The Impact of the Pandemic on Society and Creativity:
Perspectives from Writers from Japan and Canada

Enjoy the Japan Canada Literary Exchange at home before it ends!

Saturday, May 15 is the last day to enjoy The Impact of the Pandemic on Society and Creativity: Perspectives from Writers from Japan and Canada. The series features talks by iconic, award-winning authors from Canada and Japan in conjunction with the 30th anniversary of the establishment of the Japan Foundation, Toronto. The select authors will share their unique perspectives on societal, cultural, and personal transformations that have occurred throughout the past year, and how their observations of these changes might influence their own literary creations.

Co-presented by The Japan P.E.N. Club and The Japan Foundation, Toronto.

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WELCOME REMARKS

The Japan P.E.N. Club

President YOSHIOKA Shinobu

The Japan Foundation, Toronto

Executive Director SHIMIZU Yuko

Special thanks to Professor Emeritus SATO Ayako, Meiji Gakuin University, coordinator of this series.
These video recordings were specially made for this in February and March 2021.

Canadian Authors

Margaret Atwood

35:08 min | 2021 | English with Japanese Subtitles

Margaret Atwood, whose work has been published in more than 45 countries, is the author of more than 50 books of fiction, poetry, critical essays, and graphic novels. Dearly, her first collection of poetry in over a decade, was published…Read more

Watch the talk here >

Katherine Govier

42:53 min | 2021 | English with Japanese Subtitles

Katherine’s most recent novel is The Three Sisters Bar & Hotel. Her previous novel, The Ghost Brush, about the daughter of the Japanese printmaker Hokusai, was published in Japan and worldwide. An earlier novel, Creation.…Read more

Watch the talk here >

Dr. Vincent Lam

37:03 min | 2021 | English with Japanese Subtitles

Dr. Vincent Lam is from the expatriate Chinese community of Vietnam, and was born in Canada. Dr. Lam worked for thirteen years as an emergency physician in Toronto. He now works in addictions medicine. He has also worked in…Read more

Watch the talk here >

Japanese Authors

ASADA Jiro

53:26 min | 2021 | Japanese with English Subtitles

ASADA Jiro, born in Tokyo, former President of The Japan P.E.N. Club (2011-2017) is one of the most prominent authors in Japan. Many of his works have been translated into English, Chinese, Korean and other languages…Read more

Watch the talk here >

KIRINO Natsuo

36:28 min | 2021 | Japanese with English Subtitles

NATSUO Kirino won her first major literary award in 1993, Edogawa Rampo Award, with her novel Kao ni furikakaru ame, but what made her exceptionally famous was her smash hit novel Out…Read more

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HIRANO Keiichiro

48:23 min | 2021 | Japanese with English Subtitles

HIRANO Keiichiro debuted in 1998 with his first novel The Eclipse, for which he won the prestigious Akutagawa Prize at the record age of 23, and has won many literary awards…Read more

Watch the talk here >

Questionnaire