David Joiner's Blog, page 2
January 28, 2023
New Novel in Japan Times
Yesterday the Japan Times published an article about books in Japan to look out for in 2023 and mentioned my novel The Heron Catchers, which will come out with Stone Bridge Press late this year. The story is set in Kanazawa and Yamanaka Onsen, so please look out for it. 😀
From the article:
"Finally, at the end of the year, David Joiner’s 'The Heron Catchers' (Stone Bridge Press) continues his laudable efforts to put the vibrant city of Kanazawa, Ishikawa Prefecture, on the literary map."
Translations and books about Japan for your 2023 reading list
From the article:
"Finally, at the end of the year, David Joiner’s 'The Heron Catchers' (Stone Bridge Press) continues his laudable efforts to put the vibrant city of Kanazawa, Ishikawa Prefecture, on the literary map."
Translations and books about Japan for your 2023 reading list
December 19, 2022
Presentation at the Foreign Correspondents Club of Japan
For those of you who might be interested, the Foreign Correspondents Club of Japan has uploaded my December 1st presentation and Q&A onto YouTube. The sound quality isn't always the best (lesson learned: sit closer to the mic!), but my voice is audible throughout. If you watch it, I hope you enjoy it.
https://youtu.be/ZqMJ39-iL6c
https://youtu.be/ZqMJ39-iL6c
December 3, 2022
Fun in Tokyo!
I’ve had a busy, very rewarding couple of days in Tokyo. On Thursday evening I gave a talk at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan, which was moderated by the venerable Robert Whiting. The talk was about my novel Kanazawa; I discussed local cultural elements I incorporated into it, especially the works and biography of Kanazawa-born writer Izumi Kyōka. At the end of the evening, I was presented with a one-year honorary membership to the FCCJ. I guess I’ll need to find my way back to Tokyo often so I can use it! Also, the talk will be uploaded onto YouTube over the next week, and I'll probably mention it on my Goodreads blog when I'm able to share the URL.
On Friday afternoon I also had the good fortune of meeting the author Hirano Keiichiro, who has a number of award-winning novels to his name – including A Man and At the End of the Matinee – and seems to be getting his novels turned into movies on a regular basis. I was struck by his kindness and humility, and wish we could have spoken to one another longer than the two-hours we actually had together. I’m extremely grateful to my friend, the Japanese literary scholar and Tanizaki (among other literary luminaries) translator, Anthony Chambers, for introducing us.
Following that, I went to Books Kinokuniya Tokyo to sign copies of Kanazawa and have my photograph taken in the store. I greatly enjoyed talking to the staff there, who were so friendly and helpful – again, I wish I could have spent more time with them – and I was more than happy to buy nearly ¥30,000 worth of books before I left, which I hope made them happy in turn…
And even before my Tokyo trip, I was lucky enough to meet Beth Kempton, author of Wabi-Sabi and The Way of the Fearless Writer, who was in Kanazawa to research her next book, Kokoro. Although I left feeling as if I’d talked too much in our limited time together at a café, I felt I learned a lot from her, and I just really appreciated the connection with her that our meeting allowed.
But my time in Tokyo is over, and I'm en route to the US for the holidays. I'll be back in Kanazawa on January 1st, ready to get back to the work of writing. I hope all of you are enjoying the buildup to the holidays, whatever holidays you celebrate.
On Friday afternoon I also had the good fortune of meeting the author Hirano Keiichiro, who has a number of award-winning novels to his name – including A Man and At the End of the Matinee – and seems to be getting his novels turned into movies on a regular basis. I was struck by his kindness and humility, and wish we could have spoken to one another longer than the two-hours we actually had together. I’m extremely grateful to my friend, the Japanese literary scholar and Tanizaki (among other literary luminaries) translator, Anthony Chambers, for introducing us.
Following that, I went to Books Kinokuniya Tokyo to sign copies of Kanazawa and have my photograph taken in the store. I greatly enjoyed talking to the staff there, who were so friendly and helpful – again, I wish I could have spent more time with them – and I was more than happy to buy nearly ¥30,000 worth of books before I left, which I hope made them happy in turn…
And even before my Tokyo trip, I was lucky enough to meet Beth Kempton, author of Wabi-Sabi and The Way of the Fearless Writer, who was in Kanazawa to research her next book, Kokoro. Although I left feeling as if I’d talked too much in our limited time together at a café, I felt I learned a lot from her, and I just really appreciated the connection with her that our meeting allowed.
But my time in Tokyo is over, and I'm en route to the US for the holidays. I'll be back in Kanazawa on January 1st, ready to get back to the work of writing. I hope all of you are enjoying the buildup to the holidays, whatever holidays you celebrate.
November 15, 2022
KANAZAWA talk in Tokyo on December 1st
For anyone in Tokyo (or anyone who hasn’t gotten sick of using Zoom and wants to tune in from the comfort of home), I’ll be speaking at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan on December 1st from 7:15 to 8:30 pm Japan time. Though it costs ¥3000-¥4000 to attend in person - a price that includes dinner prior to my talk - Zoom attendance is only ¥550. (I don't receive any money for the talk.) The event will likely be available to watch on YouTube afterward.
Book Break Talk at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan
Book Break Talk at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan
September 15, 2022
Updates
Two quick updates: a new writing project, an old writing project, and a new review of Kanazawa.
First, for anyone who may be wondering what I'm up to these days, I've recently started a new novel, the third in a series of novels set in Ishikawa prefecture, Japan, that involves characters who make their livings as BUSSHI, or sculptors of Buddhist images. I've long been interested in the life and work of the famous Japanese sculptor Enku, who lived in the 1600s and is from nearby Gifu prefecture, and I'm fortunate to have made friends with some busshi living in and around Kanazawa – good sources of information! My idea at this point is to try to turn one of my characters into a modern-day Enku, who lived a fascinating life as he wandered across much of Japan, acting as a kind of saint for many people and carving over 100,000 Buddhist figures.
For the time being I've set aside another novel I've been working on intermittently for many years, which is set in the Lower Mekong Basin of Vietnam and Cambodia in the early 1990s. More than half of this book takes place along the Mekong River, in a made-up town in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta, and in Phnom Penh, Kratie, and Stung Treng, Cambodia.
An excerpt from the novel was published several years ago in the Ontario Review and can be read here (I’ve recently modified the excerpt slightly): http://repository.usfca.edu/ontariore...
Second, World Literature Today published a nice review of Kanazawa for their September/October issue. The URL with text from the review can be found here: https://muse.jhu.edu/article/862374
For more detailed updates not just on my writing but also of what I've been up to in Japan, please subscribe to my seasonal newsletter, the next issue of which will come out in mid-December: https://www.david-joiner.com/newsletter
Thank you!
First, for anyone who may be wondering what I'm up to these days, I've recently started a new novel, the third in a series of novels set in Ishikawa prefecture, Japan, that involves characters who make their livings as BUSSHI, or sculptors of Buddhist images. I've long been interested in the life and work of the famous Japanese sculptor Enku, who lived in the 1600s and is from nearby Gifu prefecture, and I'm fortunate to have made friends with some busshi living in and around Kanazawa – good sources of information! My idea at this point is to try to turn one of my characters into a modern-day Enku, who lived a fascinating life as he wandered across much of Japan, acting as a kind of saint for many people and carving over 100,000 Buddhist figures.
For the time being I've set aside another novel I've been working on intermittently for many years, which is set in the Lower Mekong Basin of Vietnam and Cambodia in the early 1990s. More than half of this book takes place along the Mekong River, in a made-up town in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta, and in Phnom Penh, Kratie, and Stung Treng, Cambodia.
An excerpt from the novel was published several years ago in the Ontario Review and can be read here (I’ve recently modified the excerpt slightly): http://repository.usfca.edu/ontariore...
Second, World Literature Today published a nice review of Kanazawa for their September/October issue. The URL with text from the review can be found here: https://muse.jhu.edu/article/862374
For more detailed updates not just on my writing but also of what I've been up to in Japan, please subscribe to my seasonal newsletter, the next issue of which will come out in mid-December: https://www.david-joiner.com/newsletter
Thank you!
May 26, 2022
Seasonal Newsletter
For my followers and anyone else who may see this, I'll soon begin sending out a seasonal e-mail newsletter (4x a year at most) with news about my writing – new publications, new projects I'm working on, speaking engagements and other events I plan to participate in, and maybe even some book recommendations.
If you're interested, please sign up here: my link text
You can unsubscribe at any time, and rest assured that I'll never use your email address except to send my newsletter to.
Thank you!
David
If you're interested, please sign up here: my link text
You can unsubscribe at any time, and rest assured that I'll never use your email address except to send my newsletter to.
Thank you!
David
November 19, 2021
KANAZAWA available on NetGalley until 2/17/2022
Good news!
For anyone with a NetGalley account, KANAZAWA is now available to download, read, and review until February 17, 2022. If this sounds like something you might like to do but don’t have a NetGalley account, it’s easy to register for one, though there’s a process one must go through to be approved as a reviewer. Just visit https://www.netgalley.com/auth/register and follow the prompts.
NetGalley members can find KANAZAWA here:
https://www.netgalley.com/catalog/boo...
Remember, if you do read it, writing a review afterward would be a great help to the author and publisher. Please note that cross-posting reviews on Amazon and Goodreads are also highly encouraged.
Thank you!
For anyone with a NetGalley account, KANAZAWA is now available to download, read, and review until February 17, 2022. If this sounds like something you might like to do but don’t have a NetGalley account, it’s easy to register for one, though there’s a process one must go through to be approved as a reviewer. Just visit https://www.netgalley.com/auth/register and follow the prompts.
NetGalley members can find KANAZAWA here:
https://www.netgalley.com/catalog/boo...
Remember, if you do read it, writing a review afterward would be a great help to the author and publisher. Please note that cross-posting reviews on Amazon and Goodreads are also highly encouraged.
Thank you!
August 30, 2021
September 2021
What a busy month this has been. A nice change of pace, I must say, after essentially 18 months of self-imposed lockdown. The rain in Arizona has continued, with record accumulation that destroyed our driveway but saved what appeared to be a yard full of hopelessly desiccated bushes and trees. In the middle of the month w...
July 29, 2021
August 2021
Without our cats, which Covid-19 and international travel restrictions continue to separate us from, it seems we’ve informally adopted several yards-worth of ground squirrels. Having five feeding at once below our window without any fights breaking out is rare. I think our record is eight. We really shouldn’t be feeding them (...
June 30, 2021
July 2021
A three-night jaunt to Phoenix, the Grand Canyon, and Sedona was a nice way to break our 16-month self-imposed lockdown. Well, it was 16 months for me, and 10 months for my wife, who arrived in the US last August.
I must admit that I’m happy to put June behind me. Not ...
