Articles

April 1, 2016

SWET Toolbox: Academic Writing Book Review

They Say, I Say: The Moves that Matter in Academic Writing, by Gerald Graff and Cathy Burkenstein. New York: W. W. Norton, February 2014, 352 pages. ISBN: 978-0-393-90534-2. (e-book here)

Reviewed by Winifred A. Bird

Several years ago, I happened to pick up this book from a free-box near a college campus in California. The compact volume, which provides... more

March 28, 2016

Translation in the “Age of English”

Juliet Winters Carpenter

On December 6, 2014, in Osaka, Juliet Winters Carpenter, professor at Doshisha Women’s College and a prolific translator, spoke about translating the work of Minae Mizumura and gave a workshop on a passage from The Fall of Language in the Age of English (Columbia University Press, 2015). This article, with some of the workshop results included at the... more

March 9, 2016

SWET Toolbox: Three Apps for Improving Productivity

By Winifred A. Bird

 

This January 1, I sat down with my journal and resolutely promised myself to achieve work-life balance. This is becoming something of a New Year’s ritual for me. I work from home as a writer and translator, and I don’t have kids, so work tends to spread over my life like an out-of-control kudzu vine. Every year... more

October 27, 2015

Contemporary Japan in Crime Fiction

Interview by Suzanne Kamata

A SWET member writing under the pseudonym Lea O’Harra announces her first novel, Imperfect Strangers, published earlier this year in digital form by Endeavour Press (UK) and in print by Fine Line Press (New Zealand) and available on Amazon. Shikoku-based writer Suzanne Kamata asked the new author a few questions by... more

June 16, 2015

From Book Editor to Thriller Writer: Barry Lancet’s Advice to Aspiring Scribes

Jeremy Hill On May 10, 2015, award-winning author of the thrillers Japantown and Tokyo Kill Barry Lancet spoke about how he moved from a career in editing to writing fiction and offered some pointers for aspiring authors. The lively audience contributed to the experience and insights shared. Our thanks to Jeremy Hill, who wrote this report based... more

April 14, 2015

Inclusive Language and Translations

From the SWET Newsletter Archive/Editors’ Corner

Many journalists and writers are working hard these days to free their prose of sexist bias. When they don’t, editors often must help them out. A translator, who must take into account the characteristics of two languages at once in the routine course of her work, has special problems in this regard.

The... more