November 30, 2017

SWET Talk Shop: Crossing Borders with Verse Novels

December's Early Bird Talk Shop Special

With Leza Lowitz and Holly Thompson

Date: December 5, 2017 (Tues.)
Time: 7:00-9:00 p.m. (Doors open for visiting at 6:00)
Place: Books on Japan (library), Jinbocho, Tokyo;
At the Jinbocho subway stop, go out the A2 exit; at street level, turn left, go 12 steps, and look for a doorway at the left side of the Megane Drug メガネ・ドラッグ store saying “Books on Japan”; take the stairs to the 2nd floor.
RSVP: Space is limited; please let us know if you are coming. E-mail us at SWET.
Fee: Free of charge for SWET, JAT, and SCBWI members; ¥500 for non-members

Verse is a powerful vehicle for transporting readers across international borders. These two authors of middle grade and young-adult verse novels set outside the United States, or between cultures, will discuss the medium of verse as a means of allowing readers to connect with stories set in other countries and cultures. The emotional resonance and multicultural reach of poetry makes verse an expressive bridge for conveying readers into tales encompassing cultures, nations, landscapes, and languages around the globe. Discussion followed by a Q&A. 

About the panelists:

Leza Lowitz
Leza Lowitz is the author of Up from the Sea, (a YA verse novel about the Japan 3/11 tsunami, which received the Work in Progress Honor from SCBWI), Here Comes the Sun: A Memoir, and Jet Black and the Ninja Wind (Winner of the APALA Asian/Pacific America Award in YA Literature), among 18 other books. She has received the PEN Fiction Award, PEN Josephine Miles Award, NEA/NEH grants, and Japan-U.S. Friendship Commission Award.

Holly Thompson
Holly Thompson is the author of the verse novels Falling into the Dragon’s Mouth, The Language Inside, and Orchards. Winner of the APALA Asian/Pacific America Award in YA Literature and a Freeman Book Award, she teaches writing at Yokohama City University, UC Berkeley, and Boston’s GrubStreet.