Louise Heal Kawai

I apologize for my extremely slow reply. I just hadn’t opened Bluesky for a few weeks. I’m really glad to hear you got one of the signed copies of 17. As for any more in the works, I don’t know for sure but I am talking to a Japanese publisher right now about some possibilities.

#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.

#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

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.

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 wonderfully positive article from brilliant Korean-English translator Anton Hur. Yes there are many enthusiastic readers of translated fiction.

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...

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...

Hi Lindsay! Please add me to the list. Thanks.

Thank you. I hope you enjoy it.

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…

Thank you. I’m impressed, as apart from anything 64 is looong. I really hope you enjoy this one as much.

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…?