June Monthly Meeting - 6/26/08

From Novice to Novelist: Building a Literary Career in Rural Japan

Date:                    Thursday, June  26, 2008
Time:                   6:30pm Drinks, 7pm Dinner,
                            8-9pm Presentation
Where:                 10th Floor Hilton Osaka
Guest Speaker:     Suzanne Kamata, Author
Cost:                    ¥4,000 Members, ¥6,000 Non-members

Although conventional wisdom has it that a writer needs to live in New York City (the publishing capital of the English-speaking world) or some other metropolis (i.e. Tokyo), Suzanne Kamata began her career as a writer in Tokushima, surrounded by non-English speakers.  With no connections she was able to get her work into print through hard work and persistence, and her writing has now appeared in over 100 publications internationally.

Her first book, The Broken Bridge: Fiction from Expatriates in Literary Japan, was published in 1997.  This year she will publish three books - Losing Kei, a novel; Love You to Pieces: Creative Writers on Raising a Child with Special Needs, an anthology; and Playing for Papa, a picture book. By describing her career strategy and successes, Suzanne hopes to inspire others to work to make their dreams come true in Japan.

Suzanne Kamata was born in Michigan and graduated from the University of South Carolina with a B.A. in English.  She came to Japan in 1988 on the JET program and has lived in Tokushima for twenty years.  Her writing appears frequently in J-Select, Being A Broad, Eye-Ai, and Her Circle-Ezine.  Suzanne is the former fiction editor of Being a Broad and the current fiction editor for the popular online magazine Literary Mama (http://www.literarymama.com).  She also edits and publishes the print literary journal Yomimono.  Her writing has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize five times, and once received a Special Mention.  She is also a two-time winner of the All Nippon Airways/Wingspan Fiction Contest.

Please RSVP with menu preference to Evelyn by Sunday, June 23rd.

JUNE MEETING DINNER MENUS
Please specify your menu preference when you RSVP by Sunday, June 23rd. All menus come with a "white Peach and Raspberry Parfait with homemade Stone Fruit preserve"/ Coffee or Tea

Fish

• Gravlax and spinach salad on herb pan cake, yoghurt sauce
• Pan-fried John Dory with roasted seasonal vegetables and beurre blanc

 
Meat

• Salad of raw ham with loquat, peach and tomato confit, herb vinaigrette
• Gruyere crusted veal fillet, boulangere potato and pommery mustard sauce

Vegetarian

• Mozzarella salad with loquat, peach and tomato confit, herb vinaigrette
• Indian vegetable curry with naan bread