Monkey Business, New Writing From Japan

This past week, we had the pleasure of hosting the Editors Moto Shibata and Roland Kelts of Monkey Business, New Writing from Japan, along with contributing writers from the latest issue, Aoko Matsuda and Satoshi Kitamura in my Prose Models from Poets class. This visit was in large part made possible thanks to Professor Aviya Kushner’s work with A Public Space, which has partnered with Monkey Business to bring the journal to their subscribers once a year.

Although many of my classmates are encouraged and attempt to read widely in terms of international writers, very few of us had read a considerable amount of Japanese literature, so together we were charting new territory and gaining grater understanding of the contemporary literary landscape in Japan. Moto took the lead in the conversation, explaining the impetus behind the journal as well as his personal interest in the exchange of literature between the United States and Japan. In addition to serving as Editor, Moto also translates English language literature to Japanese. Having taken a literary translation class last semester, a few of my classmates and I were particularly interested in the translation process from Japanese to English. As part of our discussion of translation, author Aoko Matsuda read her work aloud in Japanese as we read along with our translations, allowing us to get a feel of the pace and rhythm of the language that drives both the original and English language version.

Monkey Business Writers and Editors

Our guests graciously answered questions about the Japanese literary tradition and writer/illustrator Satoshi Kitamura also discussed the role of art and literature in Japan, showing us translated poetry books he illustrated, his graphic narrative included in the latest issue of Monkey Business, and he introduced us to an old Japanese storytelling art form that has lost popularity in recent years, Kamishibai.

Satoshi Kitamura demonstrates Kamishibai

I left the class awestruck, ready to devour my copy of Monkey Business and to seek out more international literature. Monkey Business is the only journal I know of that devotes itself to translating new works from a single country, and I wish there were more magazines like them out there (if you know any, please let me know!). We have discussed many times in our classrooms at CCC that American readers don’t have enough exposure to international writing and there are a number of reasons for that, but I believe more opportunities to experience the great work currently being produced in other countries would certainly help in terms of sharing and spreading literature across languages.

HUGE thank you to Moto Shibata, Roland Kelts, Aoko Matsuda and Satoshi Kitamura! You folks are amazing and we are so grateful that you shared your work with us.