Nick Bradley’s Tokyo is an enormous and vivid tapestry, with each thread revealing the life of a person who has lived and worked there, who has shed tears and blood for Tokyo, who struggled through their darkest days and celebrated their greatest victories in Japan’s great metropolis. The Cat and the City offers us its …
Before you travel to any new country, you should know a little about its history, food, art, language, and customs. Japan’s literature and culture are so rich and the best way to learn more is to tuck into a few Japanese novels by some of the best Japanese authors, as well as some fantastic travel …
A lot of us who devour media like things to be put in brackets: as a music-lover, I need to know what sub-genre of heavy metal an album comfortably sits in before I hear it. But life doesn’t exist in a vacuum or a series of vacuums. And so, it is very possible – refreshingly, …
Reading international literature has its obvious benefits. The biggest and boldest of them being a lesson in empathy: learning how other cultures approach life, make their art, and tell their stories. But we often think about international literature in terms of literary fiction; books that are grounded within the culture they come from. But what …
Arid Dreams, the much-anticipated collection by Duanwad Pinwana, is, remarkably, (outside of academia), her first time being published in English internationally. That is, along with her novel Bright – released at the same time as this collection. After reading these stories, I’m so grateful to Mui Poopoksakul for translating so elegantly and beautifully, and for …
Hekla’s father named her after a volcano. Four years after she was born, the volcano after which she was named erupted, and her volcano-obsessed father took Hekla in his Jeep to see the eruption. The sight forever stoked a burning fire in her, turning Hekla into a young woman who wanted nothing in the world …
In his book China in Ten Words, author Yu Hua discusses in detail the multiple plights of the writers and artists of China. Censorship, legal battles, ownership; so many of a writer’s rights and freedoms can be put at risk, and they are on a daily basis. It doesn’t matter if these are the best …
Award-winning Korean author Hye-young Pyun, a writer who excels at creating and controlling her tragic heroes like a puppet master does a marionette, is my favourite Korean author in translation. Her works The Hole and City of Ash and Red are masterpieces of genre fiction which both carved out new niches within the psychological horror …
With the Normal People TV series out now and Sally Rooney’s phenomenally grounded, honest, and cutting novel almost two years old, it’s time to look at the best books like Normal People for readers who have recently rediscovered the novel or viewers who have been entranced by the Normal People TV series. Normal People is …
Any and all poems can seem daunting to those wishing to dip their toe into the vast and deep waters of poetry. There is so much nervousness and intimidation to feel, and the same questions are asked over and again: Where do I begin? Will I understand it? What am I supposed to feel? Is …
