John D. presenting ‘Kyoto: A Literary Guide’ (photo Malcolm Ledger)

Authors’ presentation and social event, Nov 15.
Report by Felicity Tillack (photos by her unless otherwise stated)

On a beautiful November Sunday afternoon in northern Kyoto city, the WiK members congregated for a special social and celebratory event. 

The main reason for the gathering was to support authors whose books were published in the time of corona. As Rebecca Otowa mentioned in her talk, “Authors this year have had no publicity, no support, nothing.” 

Equally enjoyable was the chance to see the beautiful home of Malcolm Ledger, and the autumn colours of the hills and forest around it.

Photo by Malcolm Ledger

Members arrived around 2pm, and had a fine selection of dips and drinks prepared by Malcolm and his partner. Old friends and new acquaintances got a chance to meet and mingle.

Then Malcolm led tours around his impressive house. A renovated ryokan, the building is 60 years old and boasts 17 rooms. One is available to rent via Airbnb, so that guests can have a more personal experience. Other rooms include Malcolm’s library, a comfortable catio and rooms set aside for enjoying listening to the sound of the river.

Once the tours were complete, it was on to the main event. Rebecca Otowa was first and she gave an insightful introduction to how she became an author as well as a preview of her third book, The Mad Kyoto Shoe Swapper.

Patrick Hochner went next. He spoke too about the process of pitching and preparing his photo book, 100 Kyoto Sights that he collaborated on with John Dougill. 

Finally, John Dougill spoke about the anthology that he and members of his long running Poetry in Translation group had worked together to create. The editorial team included Paul Carty, Joe Cronin and Itsuyo Higashinaka, who were all present. Called, Kyoto, A Literary Guide, it is a collection of poems, in both English and Japanese, about Kyoto. Two of those attending, Ken Rodgers and Chris Mosdell, contributed poems to the anthology.

After the presentations were complete, members had the chance to pick up the books at a discount, and score the signature of the author to boot.

The evening closed with a tasty selection of sushi that Malcolm had kindly prepared. 

The event was a huge success and a wonderful chance to meet other members again and hear about the endeavours of the many talented authors the group boasts. All going well, it will not be the last chance to meet up in person this year.