Looking for an opportunity to chat about great books by Japanese authors? Join the Japan Foundation Toronto’s Book Club Online on September 15 for their discussion of Temple Alley Summer by Sachiko Kashiwaba (translated from the Japanese by Avery Fischer Udagawa, illustrated by Miho Satake). Winner of the 2022 Mildred L. Batchelder Award, Temple Alley Summer is a fantastical adventure and mystery featuring the living dead and a suspiciously nosy black cat named Kiriko. Don’t miss the virtual conversation about this sweet ghost story in the lead-up to Sachiko Kashiwaba’s appearance at the Toronto International Festival of Authors 2022 on September 24.

When: September 15 at 5:30 pm EDT
Where: Online via Zoom with the JFT Book Club

*Please be aware that space may be limited. RSVP here.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Sachiko Kashiwaba is a prolific writer of children’s and young adult fantasy whose career spans more than four decades. Her works have garnered the prestigious Sankei, Shogakukan, and Noma children’s literature awards, and her novel The Marvelous Village Veiled in Mist influenced Hayao Miyazaki’s film Spirited Away. Temple Alley Summer received the 2022 Mildred L. Batchelder Award, was a July/August 2021 Kids’ Indie Next Pick, and a Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection. She lives in Iwate Prefecture.

ABOUT THE TRANSLATOR

Avery Fischer Udagawa grew up in Kansas and studied English and Asian Studies at St. Olaf College in Minnesota. She holds an M.A. in Advanced Japanese Studies from The University of Sheffield. She has studied at Nanzan University, Nagoya, on a Fulbright Fellowship, and at the Inter-University Center for Japanese Language Studies, Yokohama. She writes, translates, and works in international education near Bangkok, where she lives with her bicultural family.