Yui Kajita

illustrator | translator | literary scholar

Literary translation

photograph showing the process of an experimental translation of a poem

Translation brings together what I love most about literary criticism: close reading and creative interpretation. It’s exciting to explore the texture of literary language, to weigh the various meanings that a text can concurrently hold, and to look for the words that would recreate the experience of the original text. I’m grateful that I can be part of retelling someone’s story.

I’m interested in diverse themes, genres, and forms — these are some that have been published or are in the works. If you’d like to hear more or discuss a potential project, please feel free to get in touch.

Poetry

Short Stories

  • Mayumi Inaba, Kuchibiru ni chiisana haru wo (work in progress)
  • Motojiro Kajii, “Blue Sky” (under review)
  • Moe Azuchi, “The Winter Cicada” (for the Kurodahan Press Prize 2020)

Novels

  • Currently pitching novels by Mariko Asabuki and Tomoka Shibasaki

Children’s Books

  • Currently pitching various picture books and middle grade/young adult novels, including A Hundred Years, a moving picture book about friendship, death, and reincarnation

Book Reviews and Other Writings

  • “Listening in on Fifty Sounds (review of Fifty Sounds by Polly Barton), Hopscotch Translation, 1 March 2022
  • A multi-media guide analysis on Breasts and Eggs by Mieko Kawakami, trans. by Sam Bett and David Boyd, for Audrey (a new online book club platform), March 2021 — the guide included a playlist of music that resonates with the world of the novel