Holly Thompson's Blog, page 2

Listening to Trees--A Book's First Month

On October 22, 2024, my new nonfiction picture book Listening to Trees: George Nakashima, Woodworker was launched into the children's book world. 

Author Holly Thompson with Listening to Trees
Picture book biography Listening to Trees: George Nakashima, Woodworkerby Holly Thompson, illustrated by Toshiki Nakamurapublished by Neal Porter Books/Holiday House

Listening to Trees jacket

Written in haibun form combining haiku and prose with extensive back matter, Listening to Trees was published by Neal Porter/Holiday House Books, and soft launched while I was in Tokyo at an SCBWI Japan event shortly before the book's official birthday. This was the first time illustrator Toshiki Nakamura and I had met.

I arrived back in the U.S. just in time for the George Nakashima Peace Award event at Nakashima Woodworkers in New Hope, PA and the first book signing. 

Listening to Trees on a George Nakashima table

Next was a reading with Q&A at An Unlikely Story in Plainville, MA; author visits in a California school and college and a meeting at the Japanese American National Museum; a reading, talk and haiku writing at the Michener Art Museum in Doylestown, PA--which features a Nakashima Reading Room and furniture pieces by George Nakashima and daughter Mira Nakashima; the National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) conference in Boston and signing 100 copies for attending educators at the booth for the National Consortium for Teaching about Asia (NCTA). 

Nakashima Reading Room at the Michener Art Museum

I've also been zipping about bookshop to bookshop signing copies of Listening to Trees (call ahead to see if they still have signed copies in stock):

MA: Porter Square Books, Cambridge; Brookline Booksmith, Brookline; Odyssey Bookshop, S. Hadley

NYC: Kinokuniya, NYC 

PA: Farley's Bookshop, New Hope; Michener Art Museum, Doylestown

DC: Politics & Prose (Conn. Ave.)

LA: Japanese American National Museum shop; Children's Book World, LA 

After the November holiday week, I'll continue with stock signings, author visits, and traveling about to share Listening to Trees and George Nakashima's life journey with students, educators, museums, libraries and arboretums. 

AND...for an introduction to Listening to Trees, reserve to join me with Boston MFA art curator Asako Katsura for a free online event with Japan Society Boston on December 10 at 6 pm. 

Listening to Trees and a George Nakashima table and chairs at the MET NYC

The Wakame Gatherers in Maine

At last, I had a chance to return to Maine for school visits thanks to Read Maine Agriculture selecting my picture book The Wakame Gatherers (gorgeously illustrated by Kazumi Wilds and published by Lee & Low Books) as the 2024 Read ME Agriculture book. 

Holly Thompson and some of her authored books in Maine

As explained on this page of my website, The Wakame Gatherers is set in Japan and Maine, and features bicultural Nanami who goes wakame gathering in Kamakura, Japan, with her two grandmothers--Baachan from Japan and Gram from Maine. 

Having lived in Japan for the past 25 years, although I'd met with Maine educators at events in Japan and in the U.S., until now hadn't had the chance to do author visits at Maine schools. 

I popped into three schools near Portland, received tons of great questions from seaweed savvy students, and had the chance to try seaweed printing thanks to art teacher Lynda McCann Olson. And a bonus: in the art room, we were surrounded by dozens of prints made by students across the oceans in Aomori, Japan--sister prefecture to the State of Maine. 

Art Educator Lynda McCann Olson printing with kelp
Seaweed prints created by educators and myself.
Can you spot the wakame print?

And a bonus to these school visits--I had the opportunity to meet Maine artist Celeste Roberge who sculpts with Maine seaweeds, and whose work I'd seen in the New Bedford Whaling Museum's exhibit The Cultures of Seaweed last summer. 

I'm so grateful to the Five College Center for East Asian Studies (FCCEAS) for supporting these recent author visits, and to Read ME Agriculture for selecting The Wakame Gatherers as the Read ME Agriculture 2024 book. Thank you to all the educators, students, kelp harvesters and artists I met during my trip! 

I look forward to doing more author visits with U.S. schools now that I'm based mostly in the U.S. See my Events page for details if you'd like me to visit. 

I hope that The Wakame Gatherers encourages more children and adults everywhere to enjoy eating all sorts of kelp and seaweed, whether fresh or dried, in snacks or soup or salads.  

World KidLit: Seeking a Publisher

This month, the World Kid Lit blog features Seeking a Publisher, showcasing children's books from around the world that are available now for translation into English. Each featured book entry includes a review and recommendation by a translator.

Today's World Kid Lit Seeking a Publisher features books originally published in Japanese and Arabic, and two of those books featured are books that I have translated from Japanese to English and now seek a publisher. Have a look!

Visit the World Kit Lit blog for the many books being featured in this 2024 Seeking a Publisher period. Here's hoping more English-language publishers and editors of children's literature will acquire works from around the world so that more global books will make their way into the hands of librarians, educators, and young readers everywhere.

Bring #WorldKidLit to the attention of your favorite editors and publishers.

A Tokyo Firebombing Tale (東京大空襲ものがたり)
by Seiji Arihara (有原誠治)
Original language: Japanese [Japan]

Toya’s Moving Days [トヤのひっこし] Written by: Ganbaatar Ichinnorov (Mongolian) with translation by Noriko Tsuda (Japanese); Illustrated by Bolomaa Baasansuren (Mongolian) Original language: Japanese [Japan]

The Wakame Gatherers and Read ME Agriculture

 Great news! My picture book The Wakame Gatherers, illustrated by the amazing Kazumi Wilds, has been chosen as the 2024 Read Maine Agriculture book! And I'm heading to Maine soon!

"The 2024 Read ME Agriculture program will be held March 18 - 22, for Maine grades PK-4 students. Inspired by our current focus on aquaculture, this year's book is "The Wakame Gatherers," written by Holly Thompson and illustrated by Kazumi Wilds. Every classroom that participates will receive a copy of the book and accompanying educator's guide, with aligned classroom activities."
More info about The Wakame Gatherers is on my website including a Teacher's Guide. 

Hooray and thank you Lee & Low Books!

Day of Remembrance and George Nakashima

Today, on this year’s Day of Remembrance, the anniversary of Executive Order 9066 that led to the authorization of the wrongful removal and imprisonment of West Coast Japanese Americans in 1942, I'm thinking of all those who suffered through the trauma of displacement; rampant racism; loss of property, businesses, education paths and dreams; separation from family members and community; grim living conditions in harsh environments; and more. Among those removed without trial or due process were the late architect and woodworker George Nakashima, his wife Marion and their then newborn daughter Mira.  

In The Soul of a Tree, George's 1981 memoir of his life journey through his relationship with trees, wood and woodworking, he described the order to round up and imprison Japanese Americans as an “insensitive act, one by which my country could only hurt itself. It was a policy of unthinking racism.”

George and family were incarcerated at the Minidoka War Relocation Center in Idaho. Watch this Minidoka Historic Site video for background on the removal and imprisonment and to hear recollections from other Americans forced out of their homes and communities into Minidoka in 1942. And see this Friends of Minidoka site for more background and a map with all the confinement sites in the U.S.
This painful experience disrupted George's new directions as an independent woodworker in Seattle. Once confined at Minidoka, he was assigned to use his architecture skills for improving and completing buildings, and creating furniture for incarcerees. I this situation, he met issei carpenter Gentaro Hikogawa, whose woodworking expertise enabled George to further develop and refine his Japanese carpentry and joinery skills under the bleakest of circumstances.
Sponsorship by his former employer, architect Antonin Raymond, led George, Marion and little Mira far from the Pacific Northwest to New Hope, Pennsylvania where George and family ultimately stayed and built their unique woodworking centered life.
This Minidoka experience is included in my forthcoming picture book biography Listening to Trees: George Nakashima, Woodworker, illustrated by Toshiki Nakamura (Neal Porter Books). And Listening to Trees is now available for preorder at indie bookshops and online bookstores.


To learn more about the impact of Executive Order 9066, here are a few children's and YA books about the incarceration experience that I recommend:
Love in the Library by Maggie Tokuda-Hall, illustrated by Yas Imamura (PB)
Fish for Jimmy by Katie Yamasaki (PB)
Barbed Wire Baseball by Marisa Moss, illustrated by Yuko Shimizu (PB)
Write to Me: Letters from Japanese American Children to the Librarian They Left Behind by Cynthia Grady, illustrated by Amiko Hirao (PB)
Baseball Saved Us by Ken Mochizuki, illutrated by Dom Lee (PB)
Dust of Eden by Mariko Nagai (MG)
They Called Us Enemy by George Takei, Justin Eisinger, Steven Scott, Harmony Becker (MG/YA)
We are Not Free by Traci Chee (YA)
Displacement by Kiku Hughes (YA)
We Hereby Refuse by Frank Abe and Tamiko Nimura, illustrated by Matt Sasaki (YA)
Citizen 13660 by Miné Okubo (YA readers and up)
And for a musical approach to remembrance, see the trailer for musician Kishi Bashi's song film Omoiyari--a "musical journey to understand WWII era Japanese incarceration, assimilation, and what it means to be a minority in America today."
May we remember and may we all strive for compassion.




  

2024 Picture Book Writing Courses

Happy 2024! Are you ready to dive into some picture book writing?

These are my upcoming winter/spring 2024 picture book writing courses for GrubStreet--three courses in three different formats. 

Intro to Picture Books Seminar: Friday January 19, 10:30-1:30 a.m., in person, at GrubStreet, Boston Seaport location. This class is for those seeking a 3-hour overview of writing for the picture book format with in-class writing explorations.

6 Weeks, 3 Picture Books: 6 Mondays starting January 22, ending March 4 (no class February 19), 10:30-1:30 a.m. Boston time, via Zoom, for those who'd like to craft and significantly revise three picture book texts over a six-week period with feedback and a supportive group. 

Picture Book Revision: 8 Weeks starting April 3, ending May 22, online, asynchronous, for those living anywhere in the world, who'd like to dive deep into picture book revision and explore various approaches and methods toward creating submission-ready manuscripts in a class taught via the WetInk platform. 

Whether you are experienced or just starting out in picture book writing, if you're eager for motivation to craft, develop and revise picture book manuscripts, please join us.

These are generative, supportive and inclusive GrubStreet courses.

I would be grateful if you'd share this info with your picture book writer friends. GrubStreet scholarships are available. 

And if a course shows up as full, be sure to join the waitlist!

Nature essay in Hans Sautter's Japan

A while back, I was contacted by longtime Japan-based photographer Hans Sautter to craft an essay for his photography opus Japan capping his extraordinary career. I was honored to be selected to write for the chapter focusing on nature in Japan. 

After years of work compiling photos and essays, the book was published and an event was scheduled at the Foreign Correspondents Club of Japan in Tokyo... then COVID disrupted everything. 

At last the event has been rescheduled, and Hans Sautter, as well as essay contributors, will be present to launch the book in Tokyo.

Please join us at the June 13 Hans Sautter JAPAN Book Break event at FCCJ, either in-person including dinner, or online; both require advance reservations.  

Essays in the book include the following: 

An Insider’s Gaze, by Peter TaskerMetropolis, by Stephen MansfieldCostume, by Charles T. WhippleNature, by Holly ThompsonRitual, and Sacred, both by Eugene TarshisAesthetics, by Azby Brown

Hoping many will join us to celebrate and pick up a copy of Hans Sautter's photography opus. 

YCU Footprints Literary Magazine 2022-2023

Hurrah! The 2022-2023 edition of Footprints, the literary magazine of student work from my Elements of Fiction course at Yokohama City University, is here!

Elements of Fiction is an English course within the YCU International School of Liberal Arts. For background on this creative writing course and my creative portfolios approach, you can visit my chapter "Creative Portfolios: Adapting AWP Goals for EFL Creative Writing Courses in Japan," which appears in The Place and the Writer  (Bloomsbury Academic, 2021).

This year the course returned to in-person mode, and class members included students from Japan, as well as a number of exchange students. Participating students cultivated stories and poems with impressive and infectious energy. The encouragement and support offered and received by class members during group workshops yielded ambitious final works.

I'm pleased to present the 2022-2023 edition of Footprints literary magazine. 

This 2022-2023 edition includes stories set in Japan and elsewhere in the world, fantasy and realism, poetry and prose. Here's the full table of contents:

Please peek inside and enjoy these stories and poems from these YCU students. 

The students and I hope you enjoy this 2022-2023 edition of Footprints. 

For earlier online editions of Footprints:

See this post about Footprints 2021-2022.

See this post about Footprints 2020-2021.

See this post about Footprints 2018 and Footprints 2019.

2023 Picture Book Writing Courses

I write fiction, nonfiction and poetry, and I love the 32-page picture book format. The interplay of words and illustrations, page turn elements, target audience of children plus their readers, and the read-aloud intent all make this a creative form I return to again and again. 

For a number of years I've been teaching picture book writing courses via the GrubStreet Creative Writing Center in Boston. This year I'll be teaching my winter/spring courses via Zoom or in an asynchronous online format from my home in Japan. Picture book writers worldwide, please join!

2023 GrubStreet courses with Holly Thompson

Picture Book Workshop (in 2 parts). Friday 1/20 and Friday 1/27, 6:00 pm-9:00 pm (EST).

6 Weeks, 3 Picture Books. Starts 2/6. Online via Zoom, 6 Mondays,  6:00-9:00 pm (EST).

Picture Book Revision. 8 weeks online; no live meetings. Class opens 4/5, closes 5/31. Asynchronous.

The three courses are all slightly different so they can be taken individually or in succession for a full picture book writing immersion. 

Please share this info with your picture book writer friends. Note that GrubStreet scholarships are available. If a course shows up as full, be sure to join the waitlist!

Just a few recently published picture books I'm excited about this year!

Kuruma Ningyo Performance and Books

In 2019 and 2020 I worked on translating two picture books from Japanese to English for the town of Miyoshi Town in Saitama--one about heritage sweet potato cultivation, and the other about the revival of Chikumazawa Kuruma Ningyo Puppetry. 

Kuruma Ningyo puppetry was developed in the early Meiji Era (1868-1912). The last documented performance in the Miyoshi Town area was in 1921, and the art was then gradually forgotten. Then, in 1971, a storage area in an old house revealed multiple wicker baskets containing various puppet pieces, costumes, and the wooden rolling carts that puppet operators sit on. 

Fortunately, a couple elder puppeteers were still living and able to teach a few members of the community how to assemble and manipulate the puppets, and those new puppeteers, in turn, taught others, and soon the Kuruma Ningyo Preservation Society was born. Now local schools feature programs on Kuruma Ningyo puppetry, with the hope that this art form, now designated an Important Tangible Cultural Property in Japan, will continue to be practiced by and performed for generations to come. 

The puppetry book, titled かえてきた竹間沢車人形 (Kaettekita Chikumazawa Kuruma Ningyō) written and illustrated by Noriko Sagesaka, was translated by me as The Puppets are Back! Chikumazawa Kuruma Ningyo Puppetry. As I was working on the text translation, I had a chance to see a lecture and mini perfomance, learn about and try manipulating the puppets and the cart the puppeteer sits on, but I especially looked forward to seeing a fully staged production. But coronavirus intervened, and public performances of the growing puppetry troupe were halted. 

Now, at last, performances are back on, and recently I was lucky travel up to Miyoshi Town to attend the first major public performance in three years at the Bunkakaikan. Kuruma Ningyo dramas are built on Buddhist setsuwa and this performance was the tragic love story of the monk Anchin and Kiyohime, the young woman he rejects; once spurned by Anton, she turns herself into a dragon and kills him in the temple bell in which he'd hidden. Here are a few photos taken after the performance:

Here you can see the roller cart (upside down) that the puppeteers sit on. 

And it was fun to meet again the puppeteer who was the young girl in the picture book story. 

And the performance space was the performance space featured in the picture book. And a bonus was sitting and chatting with Tomoko Shirota, my patient editor for the two Miyoshi Machi books, together with, just coincidentally, the Fukuinkan Shoten editor of two picture books I'd just recently translated : )