Books | The World of Translators Oct 17, 2020
Motoyuki Shibata is always ready to listen to writers’ voices
by Kris Kosaka
The founder of the literary magazine Monkey says a translator’s first priority should be to honor the pleasure of reading.
Books Feb 27, 2016
Tokyo's literature festival resurfaces
by Kris Kosaka
The Tokyo International Literary Festival got off to a good start. Both the inaugural 2013 event and the 2014 edition were successful, an auspicious beginning to forging cultural and artistic connections between Eastern and Western writers on a global stage. But since the festival's ...
Books May 9, 2015
The 'dwarf' architect of Japan's literary boom
by James Hadfield
With a chuckle, translator and literary critic Motoyuki Shibata recalls the way author Steven Millhauser once described him. Monkey Business Vol. 5, Edited by Ted Goossen and Motoyuki Shibata. A Public Space, Journal. "(He) compared me with a dwarf who works while he's sleeping," Shibata says. "And ...