Tomo Anthology Supports Kesennuma NPO Sokoage

March 11, 2020 marks nine years since the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and eight years since the Stone Bridge Press publication of Tomo: Friendship Through Fiction--An Anthology of Japan Teen Stories. Port cities along the coast are still in the midst of massive reconstruction projects and neighborhood development and revitalization, and this past autumn brought harsh new challenges to recovering areas of Tohoku with damaging typhoons. Typhoon number 19 (Hagibis) in October caused devastating floods resulting in nearly 100 deaths in Tohoku--the majority in Fukushima Prefecture. The Tomo Anthology community helped to spread the call for volunteers to help with inundation clean-up efforts.

As recovery from the 2011 Great East Japan triple disasters and recent typhoons continues, proceeds from sales of the Tomo Anthology still assist programs for teens in Tohoku. In 2019, the Tomo Anthology donated 100,000 JPY to the certified NPO 底上げ Sokoage in the city of Kesennuma in the northeast Miyagi Prefecture.

In October, I traveled up to Tohoku to participate in post-typhoon volunteer flood clean-up work in Miyagi prefecture, and was able to visit Kesennuma to meet with Takafumi Narumiya, one of Sokoage's four staff members, in Pier 7's waterfront Square Ship co-working space.

Narumiya-san explained Sokoage's broad aims to provide opportunities for youth in the area, foster community, cultivate connections across generations, and support camps and programs for college students to engage with their Miyagi Prefecture communities from wherever they may be based.

The Sokoage Facebook page offers a glimpse at these programs and provides a sense of the spirit and dedication of the individuals at the heart of this NPO.

Your purchases of the Tomo Anthology which include 36 Japan stories for teens, including ten in translation, will help us continue to support teen programs in recovering areas of 3/11 impacted communities in Tohoku. Thank you!

May the Tohoku cities and towns hard hit by the 2011 triple disasters continue to utilize their resilience and determination to come together to create vibrant Tohoku communities for generations to come.

Holly Thompson, Editor, Tomo Anthology, March 11, 2020

2018 Tomo Year-end Donations

On this December 31, I'm happy to report that Tomo: Friendship Through Fiction--An Anthology of Japan Teen Stories published in 2011 by Stone Bridge Press continues to raise funds for teens in Tohoku areas affected by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami. Nearly seven years after publication, funds are still generated by this anthology that I compiled and edited in the months soon after the disaster. 

This month Tomo's publisher Peter Goodman of Stone Bridge Press made a donation of $683.09 USD (76,770 JPY) to the NPO TEDIC. 

www.TEDIC.jp

Based in Ishinomaki in Miyagi Prefecture, TEDIC provides support and counseling for youth, including those struggling with poverty, neglect, abuse, disability, truancy, illness, and social withdrawal. 

And today I made a donation of 100,000 JPY ($905.00 USD) to the NPO Sokoage ソコアゲ (to which Tomo funds were also donated in 2017). You can donate via their website or via this Yahoo! Japan Sokoage Fundraiser. 

www.facebook.com/sokoageJAPAN/

Sokoage (底上げ means "raising up") is based in Kesennuma, also in Miyagi Prefecture. This NPO engages high school students in community building and problem solving by encouraging them to take initiative to become changemakers and by supporting their projects to create a vibrant society. Projects have included the creation of a gathering space near the high school for students and Sokoage staff members; holding monthly community meal events with guest speakers; guiding students in getting to know their community, as well as creating materials to promote the region and record experiences of 3/11; providing volunteer academic support in temporary housing sites and elsewhere; encouraging students who have graduated from high school to stay involved in Kesennuma issues and events; and holding supportive training camps for college students.

I wish everyone sweet hatsuyume dreams of eggplants, hawks and Mt. Fuji (all considered auspicious if sighted in dreams on January 1) and hope that the New Year brings peace and joy and the promise of bright futures to young people throughout the Tohoku region.  

Holly Thompson

Talking Translation--TOMO in the AFCC Translation Seminars

The Asian Festival of Children's Content (AFCC) is a conference in Singapore with various tracks, workshops and seminars. This year, for the first time, a translation track was offered during the day of seminars, and the track of four seminars featured Tomo translator contributors Avery Fischer Udagawa and Alexander O. Smith, as well as editor Holly Thompson. In the individual talks and panel discussion, Tomo came up again and again--the nature of the project; the nitty-gritty aspects of translation; the search for and selection of stories; the correspondence between editor, translators and authors; the editing process, and publication and promotion.

Here is translator Avery Fischer Udagawa talking at AFCC about the Boston launch of Tomo, to which author Sachiko Kashiwaba and daughter wore kimono with the obi tied in the same way as depicted in the story.

Avery spoke of sharing these photos with students during school visits in Japan and Thailand, thereby making a local event travel the world.

The AFCC translation panel also featured Harvey Thomlinson, publisher from Hong Kong, and Mohd Khair Ngadiron, CEO Institut Terjemahan & Buku Malaysia. It was great to see the translation seminars well attended by authors, translators, publishers and editors from around Asia, all eager to see more stories from Asia translated into English.

AFCC Translation Panel

And it's been so nice to see Tomo: Friendship Through Fiction being snapped up by attendees at the conference. Here are a few excited fans of the book, which is still helping to provide longterm support for teens in Tohoku. Thank you!

Young writers Afi Noor and Hemizah from Malaysia and author Evelyn Wong of Singapore

Eye on Stories features Tomo: Friendship Through Fiction

The August issue of Eye-Ai magazine featured Tomo: Friendship Through Fiction in the Eye on Stories section, and magazine editor Terri Nii has sent us the PDF of the article. Written by Tomo contributor Louise George Kittaka, the article includes background of the Tomo project and features interviews with editor Holly Thompson and contributors Trevor Kew, Ann Tashi Slater and Juliet Winters Carpenter. 

Printed out, the article provides a great introduction to the Tomo anthology for libraries, book groups, teachers and students.

Here's a link to Holly Thompson's Tomo page with the PDF file link located below the Tomo cover image.

And here's a sneak peek of the two full magazine spreads:

Thank you, Louise and thank you, Eye-Ai!

Interview with Tomo Editor Holly Thompson

Holly Thompson (author of the foreword and editor of Tomo) earned an MA from the NYU creative writing program and is the author of fiction set in Japan: the novel Ash, the picture book The Wakame Gatherers, and the verse novel Orchards, which received the 2012 APALA Asian/Pacific American Award for Young Adult Literature. A longtime resident of Japan, she teaches creative and academic writing at Yokohama City University and is regional advisor of the Tokyo chapter of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators. Visit her website: www.hatbooks.com

Debbie Ridpath Ohi (author/illustrator of the Tomo story "Kodama") interviewed Holly Thompson for Debbie's Inkygirl.com website. See the full interview here; you can post a comment there for a chance to win a copy of the Tomo anthology.

Holly's message to Tohoku teens lies in the words at the end of the foreword to Tomo: Friendship Through Fiction:

Holly Thompson doing tsunami cleanup work in Ishinomaki

"May the hard-hit communities of northern Japan find the strength to move forward. May the young people of Japan cultivate a spirit of compassion and play key roles in reviving Tohoku. Tomo 友 means "friend," and I am profoundly grateful to everyone who joins me in saying to the people of Tohoku: We are with you, we will help you, we will cheer you as you take your steps to recover."

Boston Tomo Launch on March 23, 2012

Friday evening was the Boston launch for Tomo: Friendship Through Fiction. The event, held at the Boston Children's Museum, included comments and readings by Tomo contributors Tak Toyoshima, Ann Slater, Katrina Grigg-Saito, Misa Dikengil Lindberg, and Sachiko Kashiwaba, as well as editor Holly Thompson. After the readings, the museum's own Teen Ambassadors asked questions of the panel of contributors. 

The museum, which contains a Japan kyo-no-machiya house and runs an East Asia Program, offered several Japan-related activities to go with the event, including a wishing tree bearing messages from museum guests to teens in Tohoku, written on stationery designed by Tomo illustrators. 

Author Sachiko Kashiwaba, who traveled from Iwate Prefecture in Tohoku for this Boston event, and whose Tomo story "House of Trust" features kimono dressing and several styles of obi tying, delighted the audience by appearing with her daughter in stunning kimono. Below are a few photos from the event.

Tomo contributors with the Boston Children's Museum Teen Ambassadors

Ann Slater, Misa Dikengil Lindberg, Holly Thompson, Tak Toyoshima, Katrina Grigg-Saito, and Sachiko Kashiwaba and daughter

Museum guests writing messages to teens in Tohoku

The wishing tree full of messages

Sachiko Kashiwaba and daughter wearing kimono with obi sashes tied in the fukura suzume and taiko styles

Thank you to the Boston Children's Museum for this Tomo launch event! And now we look forward to the next Tomo event on March 31, in New York City!

Tokyo Tomo Launch on March 10, 2012

On March 10, the evening before the one-year anniversary of the March 11, 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami, Tomo: Friendship Through Fiction--An Anthology of Japan Teen Stories was officially released and launched with a Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators event in Tokyo. Present were 16 contributors, including several translator-author pairs. All read excerpts from their stories to give the audience a sense of the great range of stories included in the anthology.

Here are a few photos of the contributors who were able to attend the Tokyo launch:

Back row, L to R: John Paul Catton, Juliet Winters Carpenter, Deborah Iwabuchi, Margi Napper, Louise George Kittaka, Ann Slater, Charles De Wolf, Trevor Kew, Hart Larrabee  Front Row, L to R: Arie Nashiya, Yuko Katakawa, Holly Thompson, Sako Ikegami, Fumio Takano, Leza Lowitz, Mariko Nagai

Louise George Kittaka, author, and Holly Thompson, editor

Juliet Winters Carpenter, translator, and Arie Nashiya, author

Sako Ikegami, translator

Fumio Takano, author, and Hart Larrabee, translator

Yuko Katakawa, author, and Deborah Iwabuchi, translator

It was wonderful for so many contributors to meet face to face and for translators to finally meet the authors whose works they'd translated. And the Tomo books sold out. Hooray!

Looking forward to the Boston Tomo launch at the Boston Children's Museum on March 23.

Introducing Tomo--a YA Anthology of Japan-related Fiction

-->

I'm  so happy to announce that Tomo 友, a young adult anthology of fiction set in or related to Japan, will be published by Stone Bridge Press in Spring 2012. Since the devastating earthquake and tsunami of March 11, I have been eager to find a way for Japan-connected fiction to raise funds specifically for teens in the hard-hit areas of Tohoku. Stone Bridge Press, with its focus on books about Asia and Japan, is a perfect fit for this project. Tomo will enable teens and adults worldwide to contribute to long-term relief efforts for teens in quake- and tsunami-affected Tohoku, while immersing themselves in short stories set in and related to Japan. Please read about this new YA anthology project and help us announce the call for submissions by tweeting and posting on your blogs and Facebook pages. 

This Tomo blog will include news about the anthology, contributor interviews, information about the organizations, locations and teens that Tomo will support, and much more. Please follow this blog and share the link.

So please join me in celebrating--with some Tohoku sake? Tohoku kamaboko? Tohoku wakame? Tohoku rice? You choose!

Holly Thompson, Editor of Tomo 友

*************************************************************

Tomo 友—YA Anthology of Fiction

Tomo (written友, meaning “friend” in Japanese) is a forthcoming benefit anthology of short fiction set in or related to Japan for readers ages 12 and up. Tomo will be edited by Holly Thompson and published in print and digital formats by Stone Bridge Press in Spring 2012.  Proceeds from the sale of Tomo will support teens affected by the Great East Japan Earthquake of March 11, 2011.

Tomo will feature original short fiction in English by authors with a significant connection to Japan by heritage or experience, as well as short fiction in translation (Japanese to English) by Japanese authors.

Submit by August 15, 2011. 

Tomo seeks short fiction up to 5,000 words (up to 3,000 words preferred) set in or strongly related to Japan for readers age 12 and up, either original stories in English or stories translated from Japanese. In addition to standard prose fiction, submissions of fiction in verse, flash fiction, and comics (black and white) will also be considered.

Tomo aims to enable teens and adults worldwide to contribute to long-term relief efforts in Japan while exposing them to Japan through YA short fiction.

Contributors will not be paid. Proceeds from the sale of the book will support teens affected by the Great East Japan Earthquake of March 11, 2011. 

Submission Guidelines

1.     Stories submitted must be short fiction set in Japan or strongly related to Japan written by authors connected to Japan by experience or heritage.

2.     Stories must be original stories in English or stories translated from Japanese into English. No translations will be accepted without written permission from the original author or rights holder.

3.     Stories of 3,000 words or less are preferred. Longer submissions, up to 5,000 words, will also be considered. Excerpts will be considered only if they work as stand-alone stories.

4.     Stories must be young adult (YA) fiction with a protagonist aged 13 to 17.

5.     Stories that reflect contemporary Japan are preferred. Stories in in any style or genre (historical, fantasy, paranormal, manga, experimental, etc.) will be considered.

6.     Like the best YA stories, submissions should have a unique and powerful voice; be an emotional/funny/surprising/moving read; be fast paced, not be bogged down with description; and be exquisitely crafted.

7.     Contributors will not be paid. Each contributor will receive two copies of Tomo.

Permissions Guidelines

1.     If you are the original author, with your submission you only need state that you are the author, that the story is original, and that you are able to give permission for its use in Tomo. If your story is selected you will be asked to sign an agreement that will give the publisher of Tomo the right to publish your story in print and digital formats.

2.     If you are the translator, in addition to giving permission to use your work you will need to obtain a letter from the original author or current rights holder that (1) grants you the right to translate the work into English and (2) grants the publisher of Tomo the right to publish the translation in print and digital formats.

Submission Instructions

1.     Submit by sending your story as an email attachment in Word or Word-readable (e.g., rtf) format to tomoanthology (at) gmail (dot) com by August 15, 2011. For illustrated works use jpeg or pdf format. Query for guidelines if the size of your file submission exceeds 10 MB.

2.     In the email subject line write your last name, your first name, title of story (e.g. Thompson, Holly, Mikan Wars)

3.     In the body of the email, above the story, include the following information in this order (for translations include the information for both author and translator):

●      Name

●      Bio (up to 50 words) and website or blog URL

●      One-sentence statement explaining author’s (or translator’s) connection to Japan (up to 30 words)

●      Word count

●      Contact information name, e-mail, address, phone

●      Permission/rights status (for translations)

Queries

For queries, email tomoanthology (at) gmail (dot) com with the word Query in the subject line.