[JITF2020] The Attractiveness of Translating Young Adult Novels

Sato Inoue

Literary translator since 2009.  She has been translating books for young adults, children’s books, and books for the general public.  “Picnic at Hanging Rock” (Joan Lindsay, Tokyo Sogensha) published in December 2018 was her 51st translated book. She is currently translating her 52nd book while writing her master’s thesis on literary translation at Norwich in the United Kingdom.  Her main translated works include: “My Salinger Year” by Joanna Rakoff and “I for Isobel” by Amy Witting (Iwanami Shoten), etc.

Ken Sudo

After graduating from university, studied abroad in Taiwan and joined Iwanami Shoten in 2005.  Joined the children’s books editorial department in 2010.  In addition to picture books and Iwanami Shonen Bunko, he is in charge of the youth novel series STAMP BOOKS.  Other recent publications include the graphic novel “MARCH“ depicting the history of the civil rights movement, Klaus Kordan’s Berlin trilogy, the picture book series “Polpa the Sherpa,” etc.

The Attractiveness of Translating Young Adult Novels

Young adult novels (YA) are widely loved by teens and adults.  A literary translator and an editor who has been editing foreign novels for young adults for a long time will discuss the attractiveness of translating YA novels, the difficulties of doing so and how translating YA differs from that of general books.  It will be explained as concretely as possible how to find the original books and how to propose them to the publisher.  If you are interested in literary translation in general as well as YA, please join us.