Monkey Business: New Writing from Japan - Volume 2

Monkey Business: New Writing from Japan #2

by Motoyuki Shibata (Editor), Ted Goosen (Editor)

Monkey Business is the in-translation offspring of the Tokyo-based magazine MONKEY, which was founded in 2008 by Motoyuki Shibata, one of Japan’s most highly regarded men of letters.

Monkey Business showcases the best of contemporary Japanese literature. It aims to translate and present a wide array of established and emerging authors. Issue 1 included an interview with Haruki Murakami, fiction by Yoko Ogawa, and a manga interpretation of Kafka’s A Country Doctor by the Brother and Sister Nishioka.

Volume 2 of Monkey Business kicks off with What Do You Wish We Had in Japan Today?, a conversation between 17 writers and artists. American authors such as Rebecca Brown, Barry Yourgrau, and Stuart Dybek join some of the best voices in contemporary Japanese fiction and poetry today, including Hiromi Kawakami, Hideo Furukawa, Toh Enjoe, Masatsugu Ono, and Mieko Kawakami. Haruki Murakami also chronicles his writing process in his essay The Great Cycle of Storytelling. This and many more amazing voices join the fray in this second issue of Monkey Business.

Genres: Japan

224 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2012

Reviews

[Tadek · Rating 5 out of 5]

Contains an excellent short story by Mieko Kawakami.

[Cr · Rating 2 out of 5]

Read most of it, except for maybe a couple (cause I got bored of them).

[Elif · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing! wish it was a monthly.