A Public Symposium:
Date: June 28th Saturday
Time: 12:30 - 15:30
Place: Diamond Lecture Theatre, 9 1免费版下
Japanese fiction, especially Contemporary Japanese Women鈥檚 writing, is experiencing a 鈥渂oom鈥 in translation. Books such as Convenience Store Woman (2018), Diary of a Void (2023), Butter (2024) and others have become international bestsellers, and a survey by the Booker Prize Foundation states that the sale of Translated Fiction, particularly Japanese fiction, has been on the rise, with an especially great interest from younger generations. How has this 鈥渂oom鈥 happened, and who created this landscape? Building on successful events with Yuzuki Asako, author of Butter (Off the Shelf), and Eimi Yagi, author of Diary of a Void in Sheffield, this public event sheds light on the work of the literary translators, publishers and their partners in creating and supporting this literary landscape. They will share their insights into the provision and sales of Japanese women鈥檚 writing in translation.
Symposium speakers include:
- Ginny Tapley Takemori Translator of Sayaka Murata鈥檚 Convenience Store Woman, which won the 2020-21 Lindsey and Masao Miyoshi Prize. She has translated dozens of Japanese novels including Kyoko Nakajima鈥檚 The Little House and Mayumi Inaba鈥檚 Mornings Without Mii. She is a co-founder of Strong Women, Soft Power, a collective of freelance women literary translators.
- Allison Markin Powell The PEN Translation Prize winner for her translation of Hiromi Kawakami鈥檚 The Ten Loves of Nishino. She also translated Kawakami鈥檚 Strange Weather in Tokyo and The Nakano Thrift Shop as well as Black Box by Shiori Ito, among others. She is also a co-founder of Strong Women Soft Power.
- Kristen Vida Alfaro Director of Tilted Axis, an independent publisher that won the 2020 National Book Awards and 2019 TA First Translation Prize for Yu Miri鈥檚 Tokyo Ueno Station.
- Other publishing partners Independent book sellers ().
To book, please visit and book your ticket.
A Workshop for Translators
Date: June 27th 2025, Friday
Place:
Time: 13:00 -16:00
Are you a (literary) translator, or aspiring to be one? You are warmly invited to participate in a workshop with prominent translators (Ginny Tapley Takemori & Allison Markin Powell) and Tilted Axis Director, Kristen Vida Alfaro. This workshop will provide the opportunity for freelance (literary) translators to identify the challenges in relation to their work, and how to strategise for their work and labour, networking, and supporting one another.
Please in the short google form . For those who are freelance translators, there are some limited opportunities for financial support for your transport (train, etc), so, if relevant, please indicate your interest for this support upon application (optionally, you can attach your brief CV, a maximum of 2 A4 pages to support this application).
Note: There is a public symposium with these speakers the next day, and you are warmly invited to join that too. Details and the sign-up link is listed above.
If there鈥檚 any inquiries please get in touch with n.uematsu@sheffield.ac.uk