Four new titles from Thames River Press

Another brief post to mention more good news of more forthcoming translations appearing this year. Thames River Press are publishing four titles in hardback editions from the JLPP list all due for publication next month -


God's Boat/Kamisama no boto by Kaori Ekuni, (translated by Chikako Kobayashi), a novel which sounds thematically similar to Kawakami Hiromi's Manazuru, involving a missing partner and a mysterious past, originally appeared in Japan in 1999. JLLP page.


Mandala Road/Mandaro do by Masako Bando, translated by Wayne P.Lammers, novel from Bando who writes children's fiction, this sounds like an intriguing title that spans two generations of the Nonezawa family, the JLLP page describes the key points being - An immense human drama played beyond time and space. - Overlapping love and hate relationships that never end between men and women. - A destiny full of ups and downs of a woman who came to Japan from the Malay Peninsula, more on this novel at the JLLP page.


A Thousand Strands of Black Hair/Chisuji no kurokami by Seiko Tanabe, (translated by Meredith McKinney), a novel that follows the lives of poets Akiko and Tekkan Yosano, an older novel that first appeared in 1975. JLLP page.


Death by Choice/Jiyu shikei by Masahiko Shimada, (translated by Meredith McKinney), have to admit that Death by Choice is probably the first out of these four novels that I'll go for, (review forthcoming!), follows Yoshio Kita a normal company worker who decides to commit suicide, he gives himself a week to explore and fulful his desires. The JLLP page gives the English title as Death Penalty, although Death by Choice seems to be more an exacting title, originally appeared in Japan in 1999.


It's really great to see another publisher take up titles from the JLPP and looking through the back lists of available translations there are still a great many novels yet to be published, so here's hoping.

Thames River Press

JLLP


Also to ammend this post with another title, in November Thames River Press will publish Jasmine/Jasumin a 2004 novel from Akutagawa and Tanizaki Prize Winner Noboru Tsujihara, translated by Juliet W. Carpenter.

Jasmine at Thames River Press