Publisher Review

A Publishers Weekly Book of the Week "Murakami fans will particularly revel in Karashima's comprehensive coverage, but anyone curious about the alchemy and sheer amount of work that goes into making a single author's success will be entranced by this fascinating work." -Publishers Weekly (starred review) "A profound riff on the art of translation in considering the work of Haruki Murakami, and how it differs in English from its original publications in Japanese. Tracking the work of the major Murakami translators who have rendered his work into English, this book shows the way it is shaped, edited, and reformed by who is working on it . . . A must read for translators and fans of Murakami alike." -Literary Hub, One of the Most Anticipated Books of the Year "For fans of Murakami's work, this is a dream come true . . . [an] invaluable behind-the-scenes project." -Jed Munson, Full Stop "Fantastic . . . If you ever wanted to get a far better, and deeper, look at (and appreciation for) the translator and their work, this is the book for you . . . Fans of Murakami will remember why they love his books the way they do, and budding translators will be reminded of the importance of their work. This is one of the most original books about translation out there right now." -Will Heath, Books and Bao "When a work of fiction touches someone, it becomes contagious, swimming into new worlds through the lives and spirits of its readers; when a work of fiction is translated, it is reborn. There is something intensely human in this miraculous process, though that something is often lost in the larger currents that surround it. This book shows us, in all their warmth and sincerity, and through their own earnest words, the people who make translations possible." -Sayaka Murata, author of Convenience Store Woman "An astonishingly thorough and illuminating look at the way that Murakami became recognized, and at all the people-translators in particular-who made it possible by the decisions they made. Karashima's book is a hands-on and very frank look at the social construction of a literary reputation." -Brian Evenson, author of Song for the Unraveling of the World and Raymond Carver's What We Talk About When We Talk About Love Praise for March Was Made of Yarn "Writer/editor Luke and novelist/translator Karashima have pulled together a diverse collection of new and previously published nonfiction, fiction, poetry, and a manga to create "an artistic record" of a people's response to an unimaginable disaster. The writers are mostly Japanese-including major names like Yoko Ogawa and Ryu Murakami-translated into English by an impressive list of powerhouse translators. . . . the impetus behind each individual piece is heartfelt." -Terry Hong, The Christian Science Monitor "March Was Made of Yarn isn't just an excellent anthology of work related to the Tohoku disasters; it's an excellent Japanese literary anthology period. The range of authors represented by the book has the most even distribution of gender, generation, and genre I've ever encountered, and the English-language contributors, such as David Peace and John Burnham Schwartz, bring an added level of flavor and diversity . . . I don't know how so many good things were able to come together to create this amazing book, but I am extraordinarily grateful that it exits." -Contemporary Japanese Literature "March Was Made of Yarn, an important collection of essays, stories, poems and manga, is the powerful and timely response of Japan's most talented writers."-Min Jin Lee, The Times of London