Join us for a candid evening with authors and translators Jay Rubin and Motoyuki Shibata.  Jay will share his experiences translating the fiction of Haruki Murakami into English and the shock of having his own novel, The Sun Gods, translated into Japanese.  Motoyuki Shibata will share his experiences translating The Sun Gods from English into Japanese highlighting the advantages and disadvantages of translating a book about something familiar to Japanese readers as well as the advantages and disadvantages of working with an author who can read the Japanese translation!

Jay Rubin is one of the foremost English-language translators of Japanese literature. He is best known for his numerous translations of works by Haruki Murakami, Japan’s leading contemporary novelist, and the study Haruki Murakami and the Music of Words. Most recently, he has translated the first two books of Murakami’s bestselling novel, 1Q84. In addition, Rubin’s Making Sense of Japanese remains one of the widely used guides to Japanese language studies.

Motoyuki Shibata teaches American literature and literary translation at the University of Tokyo. Among others, he has translated Paul Auster, Rebecca Brown, Stuart Dybek, Steve Erickson, Laird Hunt, Kelly Link, Steven Millhauser, and Richard Powers. He edits MONKEY, a Tokyo-based literary journal in Japanese, and Monkey Business, a Brooklyn-based one in English.