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Willow Heath

Will predominantly writes about the books of Books and Bao, examining the literature of a place and how the authors have used the art of storytelling to reflect the world and the culture around them.

Japanese folktales have had an enormous impact on the history of fiction and storytelling, not only in their native Japan, but across the world. Now, in collaboration with Short Shorts Film Festival and Japan Cultural Expo, three young contemporary Japanese writers from Okinawa, Hiroshima, and Kumamoto have each written a short story inspired by traditional …

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Booktube is a niche within the enormous world of YouTube, but it is a niche with thousands of dedicated followers, most of whom are kind and enthusiastic people. Compared to many other corners of YouTube, the corner known as booktube is a really comfortable place to hang out, speaking as a booktuber who gets little …

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Year after year, we are treated to more incredible Japanese books in translation. After the fantastic turn-out of Japanese books in 2021 — especially Kyoko Nakajima’s Things Remembered and Things Forgotten and Mieko Kawakami’s Heaven — 2022 has a lot to live up to. Luckily, all signs point to 2022 being an even better year …

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Of all the most beloved, best-selling manga — the ones with the biggest legacies; the staunchest fanbases; the biggest numbers — most of them are classic or modern shonen manga. But many of those shonen manga are now finished and ageing. Dragon Ball, Naruto, Bleach. These names are being replaced, but by what? By these …

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Portland, Oregon is famous — not just across the US, but the entire world — for being a city of writers and artists. Authors, comic book creators, comedians, designers, every kind of creative is drawn to the life and scene of Portland, OR. This, of course, includes tattoo artists. It should be no surprise, then, …

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When the Dorohedoro anime hit Netflix, it turned a lot of heads. But for fans of the anime and newcomers alike, Q Hayashida’s Dorohedoro manga, which has been going since 2002, is an absolute must-read. In her Dorohedoro manga, Q Hayashida has created a gnarly, nasty, raw, and radical piece of fiction. Dorohedoro is bloody, …

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The Kaguya-sama: Love is War manga is translated from the Japanese by Emi Louie-Nishikawa Created, written, and drawn by mangaka Aka Akasak, the Kaguya-sama manga (Kaguya-sama: Love is War) is a slice of life manga that pits two proud and brilliant, but socially inept, teenagers against one another. It’s a simple premise that works brilliantly …

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