Japanese Writers and Iowa: Japanese IWP Writers in English
To Find English Translations
If you are interested in which Japanese IWP writers' works have been translated into English, try these translation works databases. These databases are not a full-text database.
- Japanese Literature in Translation Search List Search (Japan Foundation)
- Index Translationum (UNESCO)
These databases are not comprehensive. Japanese Literature in Translation Search List Search doesn't include online publications.
Also search OCLC WorldCat. The database often includes table of contents of anthologies and edited books. You may find additional English translations of the IWP writers or works about them in the database.
Online Reference Sources
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Dictionary of Literary Biography This link opens in a new windowIncludes "Japanese Fiction Writers Since World War II" and "Japanese Fiction Writers, 1868-1945."
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Contemporary Authors This link opens in a new windowA bio-bibliographical guide to current writers in fiction, general nonfiction, poetry, journalism, drama, motion pictures, television and other fields.
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Literature Online (LION) This link opens in a new windowA fully searchable library of over 350,000 works of English and American literature, overseen by an academic advisory board.
Kyoko Nakajima IWP '09 中島京子
Kyoko Nakajima is featured in "In Their Own Words" section in Japanese Book News, spring 2016.
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Granta - The Magazine of New Writing
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Call Number: Main Library PN2 .G68 v.127ISBN: 1905881770Publication Date: 2014-04-24Includes Kyoko Nakajima's "Things remembered and things forgotten."
Hello Kitty, earthquakes, manga, samurai, robots and sushi. These are some of the things we think about when we think about Japan. This small island nation looms large in the popular imagination, in often contradictory ways: as the epitome of refinement and tradition, and as an embodiment of a shiny, soulless future. What is Japan to those who really know it? This issue includes translated work from the most exciting Japanese writers today, alongside work in English. Building on their expanding international partnerships, Granta Japan will be published in conjunction with the first Japanese-language edition of the magazine, with pieces shared and translated between Japanese and English. Both issues will be pre-launched at the Tokyo International Literary Festival in March 2014, and will spark new dialogue between two literary cultures.
Her bio on J-Lit website: http://www.booksfromjapan.jp/authors/authors/item/21-kyoko-nakajima
English Translations of Nakajima Kyoko's Works:
- In the UI Libraries
- The Eighty-Mat Room in Hermonos Chan InternaTional NÚMERO 32, ANNO 3.
- "When My Wife Was a Shiitake" in On Memory: New Japanese Writing on WORDS without BORDERS.
Updated: 5/3/2016
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Chiisai ouchi = The little house byCall Number: Main Media Collection (Video record 42182 BLU )Yoji Yamada directed her award winning novel, "Chiisai Ouchi (The Little House)." Now it is available with English subtitles on Blu-ray.
Kyoko Yoshida IWP '05 吉田恭子
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Disorientalism
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Call Number: PR9515.9.Y67 D57 2014ISBN: 192218117XHer debut collection of nineteen short stories.
Her website in English: http://kyokoyoshida.net/index/Bio.html
Yoshida Kyoko's Works in English:
- In the UI Libraries
- Kyoto Panorama Project
The Massachusetts Review; Amherst; Winter 2000/2001 - Check the "Stories" section on her website for more works.
Updated: 5/3/2016
Kiwao Nomura IWP '05 野村喜和夫
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Spectacle and Pigsty
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Call Number: Main Library PL857.O672 A2 2011ISBN: 1890650536Publication Date: 2011-09-01If you think of haiku when you think of Japanese poetry, this book will be a huge surprise. The strange and wild poems of Kiwao Nomura deal with sex and loss and memory by making unpredictable leaps of association. Imagine Fugazi singing philosophy and you get close. Inspired by shamanism, Kiwao Nomura sounds like nothing you’ve ever heard before and like something you want to hear over and over. He is one of the two or three of the most influential living Japanese poets, and his work will be as stunningly original and compelling to contemporary Americans as haiku was to the late Victorians. Anyone interested in making contact with Japanese culture will want to read Spectacle & Pigsty.
His bio in Contemporary Authors Online: "Kiwao Nomura", in Contemporary Authors Online. (A profile of the author's life and works) 
English Translations of Nomura Kiwao's Work(s):
Updated: 12/15/2014
Masahiko Shimada IWP '04 島田雅彦
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Death by Choice
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Call Number: Main Library PL861.H326 J5913 2013ISBN: 0857282476Publication Date: 2013-02-01Yoshio Kita's hopelessness and lack of faith in his future crystallizes into a decision to commit suicide by what he calls 'capital punishment at free will', meaning his only pressing problem now is how to spend both his remaining self-allocated seven days on earth and all his worldly money. From fine dining with a former porn actress to insuring his life, from a pursuing an ex-girlfriend to an entanglement with an assassin, Yoshio's last seven days on earth take on unexpected twists and turns in this darkly comic exploration of the cult of suicide in Japan and the culture that has created it.
His bio on J-Lit website: http://www.booksfromjapan.jp/authors/item/289-masahiko-shimada
English Translations of Shimada Masahiko's Works:
- In the UI Libraries
- "Desert dolphin 砂漠のイルカ" in Descant, Vol. 26, No. 2, 1995 Main Library No call number
Updated: 5/6/2016
Gozo Yoshimasu IWP '04 吉増剛造
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Alice, Iris, Red Horse: Selected Poems of Gozo Yoshimasu
Publication Date: Forthcoming in 2015
His bio in Contemporary Authors Online: "Gozo Yoshimasu", in Contemporary Authors Online. (A profile of the author's life and works)
English Translations of Gōzō Yoshimasu's Works:
- In the UI Libraries
- "Burning" and "Mad in the Morning" in The Iowa Review, Vol. 7, No. 2/3, Spring - Summer, 1976
- "I Strain My Ears," "Arranging Chaos," "Lakeside" and "Autumn Flowers" in The Iowa Review, Vol. 14, No. 2, Spring - Summer, 1984
- "Shiva, Shiba," "Went into a Red Wall," "Koma, Koma," and "Princess Weaver" in BOMB No. 16, Summer, 1986
- "Osiris, the god of stone" in Literary Review Vol. 3, No. 2, Winter 1987 and Libraries Annex No call number
- "Tatoo" and "Santa Fe Railroad Lemy Station" in The Iowa Review, Vol. 26, No. 1, Spring, 1996
Updated: 12/15/2014
Minae Mizumura IWP '03 水村美苗
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The Fall of Language in the Age of English
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Call Number: Available at Main Library (PL856.I98 N5613 2015 )ISBN: 0231163029Publication Date: 2015Winner of the Kobayashi Hideo Award, this best-selling book by one of Japan's most ambitious contemporary fiction writers lays bare the struggle to retain the brilliance of one's own language in an age of English dominance. Born in Tokyo but also raised and educated in the United States, Minae Mizumura acknowledges the value of a universal language in the pursuit of knowledge, yet also appreciates the different ways of seeing offered by the work of multiple tongues. She warns against losing this precious diversity. Universal languages have always played a pivotal role in advancing human societies, Mizumura shows, but in the globalized world of the Internet, English is fast becoming the sole common language of the human race. The process is unstoppable, and striving for total language equality is delusional--except when a particular knowledge is at stake, gained through writings in a specific language. Mizumura calls these writings "texts" and their ultimate form "literature." Only through literature, and more fundamentally through the various languages that give birth to a variety of literatures, can we nurture and enrich humanity. Incorporating her own experiences as a writer and a lover of language, and embedding a parallel history of Japanese, Mizumura offers an intimate look at the phenomenona of individual and national expression. E-book edition is also available to the UI users. -
A True Novel
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Call Number: Main Library PL856.I98 H6613 2013ISBN: 1590512030Publication Date: 2013-11-12A remaking of Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights set in postwar Japan. A True Novel begins in New York in the 1960s, where we meet Taro, a relentlessly ambitious Japanese immigrant trying to make his fortune. Flashbacks and multilayered stories reveal his life: an impoverished upbringing as an orphan, his eventual rise to wealth and success--despite racial and class prejudice--and an obsession with a girl from an affluent family that has haunted him all his life. A True Novel then widens into an examination of Japan's westernization and the emergence of a middle class. nbsp; The winner of Japan's prestigious Yomiuri Literature Prize, Mizumura has written a beautiful novel, with love at its core, that reveals, above all, the power of storytelling.
Her bio on J-Lit website: http://www.booksfromjapan.jp/authors/item/435-minae-mizumura
English Translations of Mizumura Minae's Work(s):
Updated: 12/15/2014
So Aono IWP '92 青野聰
His bio on J-Lit website: http://www.booksfromjapan.jp/authors/item/384-so-aono
English Translations of Aono Sō's Work(s):
- "Mother, how I wish I could see your face" in Japanese literature today Vol. 15, 1990
Updated: 5/31/2013
Kiyohiro Miura IWP '91 三浦清宏
English Translations of Miura Kiyohiro's Works:
- In the UI Libraries
- "First son enters the priesthood" in Japanese literature today Vol. 14, 1989
- A community of writers : Paul Engle and the Iowa Writers' Workshop includes Miura's "I'll Make Your Career." Main Library PS3509.N44 Z53 1999 and available online here .
Updated: 12/15/2013
Hisaki Matsuura IWP '89 松浦寿輝
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Triangle
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Call Number: Main Library PL856.A8196 T6613 2014ISBN: 162897026XPublication Date: 2014-06-05A chance meeting draws the shady Otsuki to the home of a master calligrapher, where he is subjected to a bizarre pornographic movie in which shots of a teenage girl alternate with close-ups of insects. Otsuki is then introduced to the calligrapher's attractive granddaughter, the star of the film, and is asked to shoot the remainder of the work himself. A metaphysical thriller, surreal noir, and "moral tale" gone wrong, Triangle is an unsettling peek into the dark and irrational reality lying beneath a city.
His bio on J-Lit website: http://www.booksfromjapan.jp/authors/item/561-hisaki-matsuura
English Translations of Matsuura Hisaki's Work(s):
Updated: 12/15/2013
Takashi Hiraide IWP '85 平出隆
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Postcards to Donald Evans
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Call Number: Main Library PL852.I663 H3413 2003ISBN: 1891123491Publication Date: 2003-02-07Art/Poetry Taksahi Hiriade is one of the leading poets of Japan's post-war generation, travelling extensively, including three months as a poet-in-residence at the University of Iowa International Writing Program. POSTCARDS TO DONALD EVANS chronicles Hiriade's travels through places as varied as Iowa, Seattle, Tokyo, and Amsterdam. He currently lives in Tokyo.
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The Guest Cat
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Call Number: Main Library PL852.I663 N4513 2014ISBN: 0811221504Publication Date: 2014-01-28A bestseller in France and winner of Japan's Kiyama Shohei Literary Award, The Guest Cat, by the acclaimed poet Takashi Hiraide, is a subtly moving and exceptionally beautiful novel about the transient nature of life and idiosyncratic but deeply felt ways of living. A couple in their thirties live in a small rented cottage in a quiet part of Tokyo; they work at home, freelance copy-editing; they no longer have very much to say to one another. But one day a cat invites itself into their small kitchen. It leaves, but the next day comes again, and then again and again. Soon they are buying treats for the cat and enjoying talks about the animal and all its little ways. Life suddenly seems to have more promise for the husband and wife -- the days have more light and color. The novel brims with new small joys and many moments of staggering poetic beauty, but then something happens....As Kenzaburo Oe has remarked, Takashi Hiraide's work "really shines." His poetry, which is remarkably cross-hatched with beauty, has been acclaimed here for "its seemingly endless string of shape-shifting objects and experiences,whose splintering effect is enacted via a unique combination of speed and minutiae."
His bio on J-Lit website: http://www.booksfromjapan.jp/authors/authors/item/2081-takashi-hiraide
His official website: via takashi hiraide Records section in English.
English Translations of Hiraide Takashi's Work(s):
- In the UI Libraries
- "From 'For the Fighting Spirit of the Walnut'" Poetry Vol. 192, No. 1, Apr., 2008
Updated: 5/31/2013
Ben Shozu IWP '80 正津勉
Kenji Nakagami IWP '82 中上健次
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The Cape
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Call Number: Main Library PL857.A39 A24 1999ISBN: 1880656396Publication Date: 1999-05-01Portrayal of a community scarred by poverty & racism.
His bio on J-Lit website: http://www.booksfromjapan.jp/authors/item/1087-kenji-nakagami
English Translations of Nakagami Kenji's Works:
Some book(s) about Nakagami in English:
- Out of the Alleyway: Nakagami Kenji and the Poetics of Outcaste Fiction / Eve Zimmerman. Main Library PL857.A39 Z95 2007.
- Nakagami: Japan, Buraku and the Writing of Ethnicity / Anne McKnight. Main Library PL857.A39 Z75 2011 Also available online .
Updated: 12/15/2013
Minako Oba IWP '80 大庭みな子
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Of Birds Crying
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Call Number: Main Library PL858.B3 N3513 2011ISBN: 1933947608Publication Date: 2011-09-01
Her bio on J-Lit website: http://www.booksfromjapan.jp/authors/item/261-minako-oba
English Translations of Ōba Minako's Works:
- In the UI Libraries
- "Double suicide, a Japanese phenomenon" in Japan interpreter Vol. 9, No. 3, 1975 Main Library No call number
- "The three crabs 三匹の蟹" in Japan quarterly Vol. 25, No. 3, July/Sept. 1978 and Libraries Annex No call number
- "Fireweed 火草" in Japan quarterly Vol. 28, No. 3, July/Sept. 1981 and Libraries Annex No call number
- "White Wind 白い風" in Manoa Vol. 3, No. 2, Autumn, 1991
Not in the UI Libraries:
- "The sea change" in Japanese literature today, 5
Updated: 5/21/2013
Tetsuji Nakagami IWP '79 中上哲夫
English Translations of Nakagami Tetsuo's Work(s):
- In the UI Libraries
- "Wandering Was Always an Important Theme in My Lyric" in The Iowa Review, Vol. 14, No. 2, Spring - Summer, 1984
- "I'm Lying on the Bed at a Motel and..." in The Iowa Review, Vol. 14, No. 2, Spring - Summer, 1984
Updated: 12/15/2014
Sachiko Yoshihara IWP '78 吉原幸子
English Translations of Yoshihara Sachiko's Works:
- In the UI Libraries
- "Lover" in Manoa Vol. 3, No. 2, Autumn, 1991
- "The Street" in The Iowa Review, Vol. 14, No. 2, Spring - Summer, 1984
- "Woman" in The Iowa Review, Vol. 14, No. 2, Spring - Summer, 1984
- "Air Raid" in Poetry, Vol. 143, No. 6, Mar., 1984 and A chorus for peace : a global anthology of poetry by women Main Library PN6110.P4 C49 2002
Not in the UI Libraries:
- "Refuse" and "Starting" in Poetry Nippon, 35.
- 3 poems in Poetry Nippon, 72.
- "To J." in Poetry Nippon, 73-74.
Updated: 12/15/2014
Ikuko Atsumi IWP '75 渥美育子
English Translations of Atsumi Ikuko's Works:
- In the UI Libraries
- "Different Dimensions" in The Iowa Review, Vol. 7, No. 2/3, Spring - Summer, 1976
- "Modern Japanese Women Poets: After the Meiji Restoration" in The Iowa Review, Vol. 7, No. 2/3, Spring - Summer, 1976
Updated: 5/31/2013
Kazuko Shiraishi IWP '73 白石かずこ
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My Floating Mother, City
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Call Number: Main Library PL861.H35 F8913 2009ISBN: 0811217965Publication Date: 2009-01-28Exciting new work from one of Japan's most acclaimed living poets. This exciting new collection, My Floating Mother, City, contains poems from Kazuko Shiraishi's most recent books published in Japan, including The Running of the Full Moon (2004) and My Floating Mother, City (2003), which received the Bansui Poetry Award and a Cultural Award from the Emperor of Japan. Also included here are three amazing long sequences including "Sendai Metro, Greece Street," translated into English for the first time.
Her bio in Contemporary Authors Online: "Kazuko Shiraishi", in Contemporary Authors Online. (A profile of the author's life and works)
English Translations of Shiraishi Kazuko's Works:
- In the UI Libraries
- "Phallus" and "Orient in Me" in The Iowa Review, Vol. 7, No. 2/3, Spring - Summer, 1976
- "My Tokyo," "Gust," "Yellow Lake" and "Uluru" in BOMB No. 16, Summer, 1986
- "Yello Night" in The Literary Review Vol. 30, No.2, Winter 1987
- "I See an Ant Hill, Gaudi Is There" in Manoa Vol. 3, No. 2, Autumn, 1991
- "The Touched, Loonies, Full Moon" in Chicago Review Vol. 39, No. 3/4, 1993
- "People Die" in Prairie Schooner Vol. 70, No. 2, Summer 1996
- "Even a Phantom Gets Thirsty" in The American Poetry Review Vol. 33, No. 6, Nov./Dec. 2004
- "Travel Is a Dream You Do Not Come Out Of" in The American Poetry Review Vol. 34, No. 4, Jul./Aug. 2005
- "A Wandering Estonian" in Manoa Vol. 19, No. 2, Winter, 2007
Updated: 5/31/2013
Hajime Kijima IWP '72 木島始
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A zigzag joy : the bilingual anthology of contemporary Japanese poetry
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Call Number: Main Library PL782.E3 Z54 1998ISBN: 4812007380Publication Date: 1998
His bio on J-Lit website: http://www.booksfromjapan.jp/authors/authors/item/1259-hajime-kijima
English Translations of Kijima Hajime's Works:
- In the UI Libraries
- "A Tale Told by the Scorched Tree" in The Iowa Review, Vol. 7, No. 2/3, Spring - Summer, 1976
- "Pulling My Leg" in Manoa Vol. 13, No. 1, Summer, 2001
Updated: 5/31/2013
Hiroshi Osada IWP '71 長田弘
English Translations of Osada Hiroshi's Works:
- In the UI Libraries
- "What the Young Canadian Indian Said" in The Iowa Review, Vol. 7, No. 2/3, Spring - Summer, 1976
Updated: 5/31/2013
Ryuichi Tamura IWP '67 田村隆一
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Tamura Ryuichi
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Call Number: Main Library PL862.A474 Z84 2011ISBN: 0964145421Publication Date: 2011-06-15Poetry. East Asia Studies. Literary History & Criticism. After the end of World War II, Japanese poet Tamura Ryuichi began publishing Arechi (The Wasteland), a literary magazine charting a new course for Japanese poetry. Over the next fifty years, Tamura produced innovative and haunting poems inspired by an extraordinary range of poets from all over the world, including T. S. Eliot and W. H. Auden. Though Tamura is little known in the U. S., he is considered to be among the very most important Japanese poets of the 20th century. In this second volume of the Unsung Masters Series, editors Takako Lento and Wayne Miller present more than forty pages of Tamura's poetry, as well as essays on Tamura's work by both Japanese and American writers.
English Translations of Tamura Ryūichi's Works:
- In the UI Libraries
- "A Poem of October" in Japan quarterly Vol. 3, No. 1, Jan./Mar. 1956 and Libraries Annex No call number
- "A Study in Terror," "The Distant Country," and "Three Voices" in Chicago review Vol. 25, No. 2, 1973
- "Four Thousand Days and Nights" and "World without Words" in The Iowa Review, Vol. 7, No. 2/3, Spring - Summer, 1976
- "Poem of October" in Prairie Schooner, Vol. 70, No. 2, Summer 1996
- "Four Thousand Days and Nights" in Manoa Vol. 13, No. 1, Summer, 2001
- "New Year Letter (1) and (2)," "Sea Wind," "I've Stopped Having Dreams," and "The Ashen Colored Notebook" in Manoa Vol. 20, No. 2, Winter, 2008
Updated: 5/31/2013