Here and There Japan

A. Donwerth-Chikamatsu

2017 Crystal Kite Award

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I would like to thank the members of the India, Middle East & Asia region of The Society of the Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) who chose Somewhere Among for the 2017 Crystal Kite Award.

Thank you Japan Regional Advisors Holly Thompson, Naomi Kojima and Mariko Nagai for arranging an opportunity to present this beautiful award to me. Sorry, Mariko, you couldn’t be there. Thank you for carrying it back to Japan from the Los Angeles conference. It’s heavy!

I joined SCBWI in 2004 and was an online member receiving the monthly Bulletin until Japan regional advisors John Shelley, Holly Thompson, and Naomi Kojima started holding monthly meetings in Tokyo, inviting authors and illustrators who were visiting international schools and asking agents and editors to hold sessions for the chapter. It was a goldmine!

I enjoyed it immensely and learned so much from these opportunities as well as from workshops held by John, Holly, Naomi and member Suzanne Kamata. They are all seasoned kidlit creators (I was a fan) and were very generous with their time. Before writing Somewhere Among, I was writing picure book manuscripts and had the benefit of their reading and commenting on them.

Since I have been a member, Yoko Yoshizawa, Jenny Desmond Walters and now Mariko Nagai have served as regional advisors along with Holly and Naomi. (John is back in the UK.) Each has contributed a great deal to the group and to me. I am not a translator but I am interested in the Japan Translation group led by Avery Fischer Udagawa. I learn from and enjoy their viewpoint and of course their contributions. (Big fan of Avery’s translation of member Shogo Oketani‘s remarkable 2011 middle grade novel  J-BOYS: Kazuo’s World, Tokyo, 1965 )

The Japan chapter has grown over the years. I have learned from all the participants passing through and from the regular members. I appreciate the support and guidance I have received. At lunch yesterday, there were many new members. It was great to meet you. You have great opportunities to learn here.  Best wishes!

Thank you agent Holly McGhee, editor Caitlyn Dlouhy and Atheneum Simon & Schuster for all the love, attention and guidance that went into bringing Somewhere Among out into the world.

The book is based on my American-Japanese family life in Japan. (The grandmother is not my mother-in-law.) Here’s a link to Writing Somewhere Among on my author’s webpage.

 

 

 

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