If you’re in the Toronto area, don’t miss this special, in-person event with Sachiko Kashiwaba, prolific Japanese fantasy author of Temple Alley Summer (translated from the Japanese by Avery Fischer Udagawa, illustrated by Miho Satake), hosted by The Japanese Foundation, Toronto. Sachiko will be in conversation with Canadian author Rui Umezawa to discuss Japanese folklore, the importance of passing down cultural stories, differences between traditional tales and modern fantasy stories, and much more. 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. Audience members will have an opportunity to ask Sachiko their own questions during the Q+A.

When: September 23 at 6pm - 7 pm EDT
Where: In-person at The Japan Foundation, Toronto, 2 Bloor St. East, 3rd Floor, Toronto, ON M4W 1A8. Register here.

PARTICIPANTS

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.

Rui Umezawa is a Toronto writer whose books include the novel The Truth About Death and Dying, shortlisted for the Commonwealth Book Prize for Best First Book (Canada and the Caribbean), and Strange Light Afar; Tales of the Supernatural from Old Japan, chosen by the CBC as one of the best books of 2015. His essays and short fiction have appeared in such publications as the Globe and Mail, Toronto Star, and Canadian Notes and Queries. He is also a storyteller who has recounted traditional and original tales in front of live audiences with the Katari Japanese Storytellers and in collaborations with the acclaimed Nagata Shachu taiko ensemble.