Speaker: Holly Thompson
Date: June 10, 2011 (Friday)
Time: 6:30–9:00 p.m.
Place: Room 205, Wesley Center, Minami Aoyama, Tokyo (PDF map to TELL, which is in Wesley Center) 
(東京都港区南青山6-10-11 Wesley Center 2F)
Fee: 1,000 yen SWET, JAT, and SCBWI members; 1,500 yen non-members

Holly Thompson is the author of the adult novel Ash (Stone Bridge Press), the picture book The Wakame Gatherers (Shen’s Books), and the young adult verse novel Orchards (Delacorte/Random House), recently published to critical acclaim, including a starred review in School Library Journal and praise from Publisher’s Weekly, Booklist, and Kirkus Reviews.

A portrait of a Jewish-American/Japanese teen raised in New York who is sent to Japan for a summer, Orchards explores weighty themes such as suicide, bullying, and bicultural identity against the backdrop of rural Shizuoka prefecture, where Thompson conducted extensive research. In her presentation for SWET, Thompson will describe her 18-month apprenticeship with Izu mikan growers and discuss how Orchards grew from this experience and related research.

A SWET member, regional advisor of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) Tokyo chapter, and lecturer at Yokohama City University, Thompson maintains a website at www.hatbooks.com.