World Kid Lit Month: Taking a Translation on Tour

We don’t often associate translated children’s books with book tours—or at least I didn’t, until going on tour this year!

In New York at the Japan Society, 27 June 2025. From left: moderator Peter Tatara, myself, author Sachiko Kashiwaba, interpreter Mari Morimoto

So much may seem to stand in the way of a tour for a translation: The author may live a hemisphere away, or not speak the local language, or both. The book may have been published by a small or specialized press with limited marketing funds. Internationalism itself may be under attack in the new market.

Seen another way, of course, these are excellent reasons to launch a translation with a series of in-person events—both to help the book stand out and to affirm in the public square that "we are not alone on this globe," to quote Betsy Bird. There is nothing like real-life interaction to bring #worldkidlit and readers together.

At the Japan Society, 27 June 2025

The middle grade novel Kiri no mukō no fushigi na machi (霧のむこうのふしぎな町) by Sachiko Kashiwaba has been a fixture in Japanese bookstores and households for fifty years. Published in 1975, it both launched the author’s career and found an enduring place in the cultural zeitgeist. Hayao Miyazaki’s 1995 film Whisper of the Heart includes a scene where a character reads the book, and its influence is subtle yet unmistakable in the 2001 blockbuster Spirited Away. 

I was honored to translate this eight-chapter classic on the occasion of its half-century anniversary. It was sobering to consider, however, that this title loved by three generations in its home country is still brand-new in mine. When publisher Restless Books obtained a grant to work with Page One Media and send both Kashiwaba-san and me on a tour of several US cities, I wondered if "my" author would be greeted with empty venues.

At the Japan Society, 27 June 2025

I soon learned, like many before me, that not every venue would be sold-out. Not one was empty, however—thank goodness!—and each offered the chance to connect with a particular set of readers.

`At the Coolidge Corner Theatre in Brookline, Mass., an event about The Village Beyond the Mist flowed into a showing of Spirited Away, affording interaction with a mixed crowd of bibliophiles and anime lovers, expertly moderated by Kalyani Saxena. At the Chatham Square branch of the New York Public Library in Chinatown, the function room buzzed with young people encouraged to attend by a passionate youth-services librarian. The author Kate Milford took part and asked keen questions of Kashiwaba-san, one prolific fantasy and mystery writer to another.

At the Coolidge Corner Theatre with book critic Kalyani Saxena moderating, 24 June 2025

At the Chatham Square Library with Greenglass House author Kate Milford moderating, 25 June 2025

At the Brooklyn Public Library’s Kensington Branch, we met fellow kidlit creatives, one who even came in cosplay. At the stately Japan Society in Manhattan, a line of Japanophiles including a brand-new graduate stretched across the lobby. 

At the Kensington Library, 26 June 2025

At the Japan Society, 27 June 2025

At the American Library Association Annual Conference and Exhibition in Philadelphia, we met more heroic librarians—and had a surprise visit from author-illustrator Grace Lin, who was there to launch The Gate, the Girl, and the Dragon.

In Philadelphia at ALA Annual, with Grace Lin, 29 June 2025

Finally, at the historic Vroman’s Bookstore in Pasadena, Calif., we encountered multiple families with two generations present. This was a present.

At Vroman's Bookstore, Pasadena, 1 July 2025

The larger crowds helped me feel we had truly welcomed an accomplished author. The smaller crowds afforded more time to take questions, speak with attendees in the signing line, pose for selfies, and otherwise make personal connections. Anecdotally, I would say the smaller events led to more moments when a casual participant became eager to explore not only Village, but also the backlist titles we had on hand—and even to pick up extra signed copies for friends and relatives.

I learned a few other things on tour that may help colleagues on similar adventures.

First, a multi-city junket is intense! Pace yourself. Half-days of downtime are golden!

Second, it’s key for you to boost and spread the word about your appearances—even if, as in our case, the publisher and a PR firm are shouting them out in addition to the venues. If you are the translator, you are more likely than the author to have family, friends, colleagues, friends of friends, family of colleagues, etc. in the target market. Our tour did not include a stop in my home region, but I would like to add one in the future to connect with more loved ones and longtime acquaintances.

Third, as the translator, you may need to prepare to act as the tour operator, so to speak. Though the hotels, flight, and trains on our tour were blessedly booked for us, I needed to create an itinerary for the author and think frequently about our meals, ground transportation, and communication with the venues and lodgings, since the author was new to those settings and faced a language barrier. This might be the kind of work for which a stipend could be proposed in advance.

Fourth, if you work as a literary translator but not as an interpreter (are more versed in writing than extemporaneous public speaking), avail yourself of a professional interpreter’s services at events, if feasible. The interpreter can convey the author's remarks and responses to questions, freeing you to focus on speaking as yourself, a creative partner in the translated edition of the book. My brain worked overtime at the events where I both spoke and took questions on literary translation, and interpreted the author's statements and responses to questions about authorship, which I relayed to her. Referring back to the first takeaway: a tour is intense!

Next Thursday, I will share about another first-time experience: translating a novel that has been translated before.

The tour described in this post was made possible by a generous grant from the Henri and Tomoye Takahashi Charitable Foundation of the Marin Community Foundation. 

Avery Fischer Udagawa’s translations include the 2022 Batchelder Award-winning novel Temple Alley Summer, the 2024 Batchelder Honor book The House of the Lost on the Cape, and new release The Village Beyond the Mist, all authored in Japanese by Sachiko Kashiwaba. Avery works in international education north of Bangkok and volunteers as SCBWI Global Translator Coordinator.

Rethinking the Book Tour

There's an interesting article in the Wall Street Journal about how authors today need to reconceptualize their whole approach to a book tour.  To rethink standing there and reading three chapters, and doing a Q&A.  That maybe, in the current climate, that's no longer enough.

The article includes some anecdotal reports from bookstores all over the country, and quotes from authors, including:

• Rainy Day Books, an independent bookstore in Kansas City, Kansas will only sponsor author events that feature a conversation or mini-lecture, a PowerPoint or slide show and maybe reading one or two paragraphs at the most from the book to illustrate a point. The owner Vivien Jennings says,

"I tell publicists 'it's no longer a reading,'"

• In lieu of readings, Roxanne Coady, the owner of R.J. Julia Booksellers in Madison, Conn., will sometimes conduct an interview with an author. "Audiences feel they're getting something unusual and intimate, and sales of the book go up," she said.

 • Brad Meltzer, the best-selling author of thrillers like "The Book of Fate" and "The Book of Lies," stopped doing readings two books ago. "Jim Dale," he said, referring to the voice of the "Harry Potter" audio books, "and all the audio-book stars made most of us authors look like a bunch of misfits. We can't compete."

I asked Bruce Coville, the award-winning and best-selling author of over 100 books for children, and a master storyteller, if it's enough to just read from your book and do a Q&A.  Here's his response:

"Being a writer in these times requires a certain degree of professional schizophrenia. In order to write, you need to be able to work in isolation. Yet as soon as you're at all successful at it, people want you to come out and talk about it. So a writer needs to be able to deal with extended periods of solitude, and also with being asked to stand in front of crowds and speak. But in the end, it's all about communication, and that is, at heart, what we need to be: communicators. I think writers can reap great benefits from learning storytelling, from taking acting lessons, from getting voice training - all things that give you tools that will help you be effective in presenting your work to a live audience."        

What's your take?  When have a book event, how do you approach it?

Illustrate and Write On,
Lee