it’s here! icymi: a profile of #sanmao appeared in @nytimes last week (link in bio). #storiesofthesahara hits shelves november 14 in the u.k. and january 14 worldwide.
enjoyed this short story collection by yoko ogawa, only the second book of hers i’ve read and my first go at tackling her in the original japanese. ogawa’s narrative worlds have a fable-like quality to them, with language itself becoming a source of pleasure or communion: erotic, emotional, artistic. i’m still thinking about the fictional musical instrument called the meirinkin (鳴鱗琴), constructed from a whale bladder and fish fins, from the title story “the sea,” as well as the quiet intimacies shared between a typist and the type key maintenance man in “the butterfly japanese typewriter office.”
reading japanese is still quite taxing and laborious for me, and this many years in, i have serious doubts about whether i’ll ever be able to absorb enough vocabulary and syntax to get through a full page of literary fiction without stopping to look something up. but i’m committed to the bit. for the love of language in general, i suppose. and access to worlds that would otherwise be out of reach. 🐋🎶⌨️
「ありふれた言葉にこそ、真実が宿っているんだ」
#yokoogawa #小川洋子 #japaneseliterature #日本文学
six years ago, my first book-length work in translation hit the shelves worldwide. in retrospect, the timing was far from ideal with the pandemic on the horizon and my being deeply mired in the logistical complexities of swerving away from one career path and moving from new york to tokyo.
but nonetheless, sanmao connected me to as many interesting and lovely people post-publication as she did in the years building up to this moment. i’m ever grateful and honored to have had the opportunity to translate this special book. every translation is a snapshot of a time and place that can never be regained, an intersection of mental worlds and conjoining of emotional cartographies. this book was me in 2010s america dreaming of 1970s spanish colonial africa through the eyes of a vagabond soul from taiwan.
this year marks half a century since the original was published in chinese. i always thought this song by françoise hardy captures both the tender love and incredible loneliness sanmao must have felt while living in the sahara. wanted to mark this occasion by sharing it with all of you. 🏜️
my book baby has been out for a full year! big thanks to all for being with me on this journey. i’m especially grateful to the bookseller community for their warm support—always a thrill to see my name on the shelf, let alone accompanied by a nice note. 🙇🏻♂️
publishing is a tough cookie, but i hope this novel will continue to find its way to readers with a taste for nested riddles, queer melancholy, fraught friendships, whiskey on winter nights, metaphysical angst, 2010s new york, the sinister cosmopolitanism of old and new shanghai... and to anyone who’s felt adrift in time and space while floating in an airplane above that vast expanse of ocean.
if you’ve read my book, it would mean a lot to me to receive your candid review on any platform. the engagement helps! 🌟 (though rest assured i avoid certain sites like the plague and will never actually see what you post. 🤪)
meanwhile, i’m moving full speed ahead on my next project(s). reading lots, writing steadily. cobbling together a world once more while facing forward and finding the sun 🌞
#queerreads #queerliterature #queerwriters #diaspora #asianamerican #asianamericanwriters #asianamericanartist #debutnovel #writinglife
last day of my thirties, the air thick with osmanthus. this decade has been good to me: i became a cat daddy, started learning japanese from scratch, got married, published a book translation, moved to tokyo, wrote and published a novel, earned a phd, changed careers. rekindled myself as a reader, went on some adventures, centered myself in the rhythm of routine. met so many wonderful people who inspire, delight, and fortify me. have been anchored by the sturdy longevity of other friendships. i’ve been feeling more clear-headed about the life i want to cultivate for myself in the next ten years and beyond. when i was twenty, i used to despair over the utter insignificance of my personal tribulations in the grand scheme of things, minimized myself and my needs out of some first-generation immigrant guilt and distorted relativism. but i’ve learned better. against the despondence and grief that permeate our world, i think it’s more important than ever to claim space for yourself. indulge your emotions, relish happy moments, stay steadfast and true to a life that feels right to you. filter out the white noise and crystallize your yearnings. it’s the only way. grateful for another solar return and eager for all the ones to come. 🌞➿🌏
