Participants joined translator Takami Nieda and EARC program leader Mary Roberts to discover the fascinating world of literary translation. Discussion focused on the translation process of her latest book, Finger Bone by Hiroki Takahashi, the translator’s role as creative writer, and thematic readings of the text.
Finger Bone is the prize-winning novella by the Japanese author Hiroki Takahashi. The novella explores themes of memory, war brutality, identity fragmentation, and the stark realities faced by Japanese soldiers on the front lines and at a field hospital during World War II in New Guinea.
Participants engaged in exercises designed to activate language play and explored how different word choices can significantly alter the meaning of a text, which can then be incorporated into the classroom.
About Takami Nieda
Takami Nieda has translated more than 10 works from Japanese into English, including Go by Kazuki Kaneshiro and The Color of the Sky Is the Shape of the Heart by Chesil, winners of NCTAsia’s Freeman Book Award for YA Literature. She serves on the advisory board of the University of Washington Translation Studies Hub, mentors emerging translators, and teaches writing and literature at Seattle Central College. Her translation of Michiko Aoyama’s Recovery Hippo is forthcoming from Harper Collins in 2025.
Program requirements
Teachers were expected to read the book Finger Bone by Hiroki Takahashi before the workshop and be prepared to share one elegant quotation that stood out to them. We sent participants a copy of the book for free.
Date and Time
November 13, 2024, 4:30-6:30 PM (Pacific Time)
This program took place on Zoom.
Program Benefits
- 2 free WA OSPI Clock Hours
- A free copy of the book Finger Bone by Hiroki Takahashi.
This program was sponsored by the East Asia Resource Center at the University of Washington, and funded by a Freeman Foundation grant in support of the National Consortium for Teaching about Asia (NCTA).