Louise Heal Kawai
@louisehk.bsky.social
Japanese to English literary translator, occasional actor, film and theatre fan, proud 浜っ子
The Donald Keene Center of Japanese Culture just awarded me the Lindsley and Masao Miyoshi Prize for my translation of The North Light by Hideo Yokoyama. Thrilled that this rich and beautiful novel may now get the attention it deserves. Looking for a US publisher to buy the North American rights.
November 12, 2025 at 11:42 AM
The Donald Keene Center of Japanese Culture just awarded me the Lindsley and Masao Miyoshi Prize for my translation of The North Light by Hideo Yokoyama. Thrilled that this rich and beautiful novel may now get the attention it deserves. Looking for a US publisher to buy the North American rights.
Reposted by Louise Heal Kawai
#BookReview: The Cat Who Saved the Library by Sosuke Natsukawa, translated by Louise Heal Kawai @louisehk.bsky.social @harpercollins.bsky.social #BooksAndReading #Fantasy #MagicalRealism #BooksAboutLibraries
#BookReview: The Cat Who Saved the Library by Sosuke Natsukawa, translated by Louise Heal Kawai
My Review: I picked this up for the obvious. It’s clearly a story about a cat, and books, and at least one library, and I’m there for all of those things. That it’s also the follow-up to The Cat Who Saved Books, which I enjoyed very much for all the above reasons - although that’s about a bookstore rather than a library - certainly helped push this book to the top of my virtually towering TBR pile.
www.readingreality.net
March 24, 2025 at 12:00 PM
#BookReview: The Cat Who Saved the Library by Sosuke Natsukawa, translated by Louise Heal Kawai @louisehk.bsky.social @harpercollins.bsky.social #BooksAndReading #Fantasy #MagicalRealism #BooksAboutLibraries
Reposted by Louise Heal Kawai
The Paris Review asked me to recommend one of my favorite translations to come out this year, and I decided to write about Rio Shimamoto's First Love, translated by @louisehk.bsky.social for Honford Star!
"... a portrait of patriarchy as a series of glassy, threatening surfaces."
"... a portrait of patriarchy as a series of glassy, threatening surfaces."
The Best Books of 2024, According to Friends of the Review: Part One - The Paris Review
Recommendations from five Paris Review fiction writers, three translators, one poet, one poetry editor, and two interns.
www.theparisreview.org
December 14, 2024 at 2:38 PM
The Paris Review asked me to recommend one of my favorite translations to come out this year, and I decided to write about Rio Shimamoto's First Love, translated by @louisehk.bsky.social for Honford Star!
"... a portrait of patriarchy as a series of glassy, threatening surfaces."
"... a portrait of patriarchy as a series of glassy, threatening surfaces."
A wonderfully positive article from brilliant Korean-English translator Anton Hur. Yes there are many enthusiastic readers of translated fiction.
“Where are all the literary men? Where are all the young readers?”
They’re reading translations.
They’re reading translations.
Anton Hur: How I learned the truth about young, open-minded readers of translated fiction | The Booker Prizes
In this guest article for Pride Month, Anton Hur explains how the readership for translated fiction is less conservative than he’d been led to believe
thebookerprizes.com
December 9, 2024 at 2:44 AM
A wonderfully positive article from brilliant Korean-English translator Anton Hur. Yes there are many enthusiastic readers of translated fiction.
It’s Publication Day for First Love by Rio Shimamoto. Mystery rather than love story. Why-rather than Whodunnit. More devastating than delightful. Proud to have had the opportunity to translate this moving novel. Thanks to Honford Star for the opportunity. honfordstar.com/products/fir...
First Love
Upon being arrested for the gruesome murder of her father, all college student Kanna Hijiriyama tells the police is “It’s up to you to find the motive.” Amidst the media frenzy about the woman “too be...
honfordstar.com
November 9, 2024 at 4:20 PM
It’s Publication Day for First Love by Rio Shimamoto. Mystery rather than love story. Why-rather than Whodunnit. More devastating than delightful. Proud to have had the opportunity to translate this moving novel. Thanks to Honford Star for the opportunity. honfordstar.com/products/fir...
Seicho Matsumoto wrote Point Zero (ゼロの焦点)in 1959. Unusually for its time the sleuth is a woman, investigating the disappearance of her husband. References to post-war occupation of Japan and its effects on women in particular make this a fascinating read. Of course as the translator I’m biased…
February 28, 2024 at 3:41 PM
Seicho Matsumoto wrote Point Zero (ゼロの焦点)in 1959. Unusually for its time the sleuth is a woman, investigating the disappearance of her husband. References to post-war occupation of Japan and its effects on women in particular make this a fascinating read. Of course as the translator I’m biased…
My first ever post on Bluesky…
Publication day for my translation of Hideo Yokohama’s The North Light.
I loved translating this look at Japanese architecture and history, with of course Yokohama’s signature touches of politics and mystery. Where is the family? And why is the house still empty…?
Publication day for my translation of Hideo Yokohama’s The North Light.
I loved translating this look at Japanese architecture and history, with of course Yokohama’s signature touches of politics and mystery. Where is the family? And why is the house still empty…?
October 12, 2023 at 8:27 AM
My first ever post on Bluesky…
Publication day for my translation of Hideo Yokohama’s The North Light.
I loved translating this look at Japanese architecture and history, with of course Yokohama’s signature touches of politics and mystery. Where is the family? And why is the house still empty…?
Publication day for my translation of Hideo Yokohama’s The North Light.
I loved translating this look at Japanese architecture and history, with of course Yokohama’s signature touches of politics and mystery. Where is the family? And why is the house still empty…?