Announcing the Tomo Contributors!

After a busy summer of reading manuscripts, I am happy to announce the Tomo anthology contributors. In the coming months I will be posting interviews with many of these contributors, so be sure to follow this site and share this news. 

Tomo Contributors

Naoko Awa author

Deni Bechard author

Jennifer Fumiko Cahill author

Juliet Winters Carpenter translator

John Paul Catton author

Yukie Chiri translator/transcriber

Chloë Dalby author

Liza Dalby author

Deborah Davidson translator/illustrator

Claire Dawn author

Charles De Wolf author

Alan Gratz author

Megumi Fujino author

Andrew Fukuda author

Katrina Toshiko Grigg-Saito author

Sako Ikegami translator

Deborah Iwabuchi translator

Suzanne Kamata author

Toshiya Kamei translator

Sachiko Kashiwaba author

Yuko Katakawa  author

Trevor Kew author

Yuichi Kimura author

Louise George Kittaka author

Hart Larrabee translator

Misa Dikengil Lindberg translator

Leza Lowitz author

Kelly Luce author

Thersa Matsuura author

Kenji Miyazawa author

Mariko Nagai author

Marji Napper author

Arie Nashiya author

Sarah Wittenbrink Ogawa author

Debbie Ridpath Ohi author/illustrator

Shogo Oketani author

Lynne E. Riggs translator

Ryusuke Saito author

Graham Salisbury author

John Shelley cover art

Ann Tashi Slater author

Alexander O. Smith translator

Kaitlin Stainbrook author
David Sulz translator, epigraph

Fumio Takano author

Holly Thompson foreword, editor

Wendy Nelson Tokunaga author

Catherine Rose Torres author

Tak Toyoshima author/illustrator

Avery Fischer Udagawa translator

Thank you to everyone who submitted stories. I read every piece that was submitted from start to finish, and the final decisions were especially difficult. I am so grateful to everyone for their encouragement and support of this project.

Soon to come...the Tomo cover! 

Holly Thompson, Editor, Tomo Anthology

List of Tomo Contributors...soon to be announced!

Thank you for your patience as I carefully read through all the submissions received for Tomo. I am finalizing my decisions, and all authors will be hearing from me soon. This has been a thrilling and enormous challenge, a summer full of reading, and I have enjoyed diving into each story that was sent for consideration. I look forward to announcing the list of contributors very soon.

Holly Thompson
Editor, Tomo Anthology

So, what is YA fiction?

There are a couple more weeks until the deadline for submitting young adult fiction to be considered for the Tomo anthology to benefit teens in areas affected by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami. I have received many great story submissions; however, now and then I receive a story that is clearly not YA, so I thought I’d try to clarify--what, exactly, is YA fiction?

Stories for Tomo must be YA fiction with a protagonist aged 13 to 17. Also, 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. These are basic requirements for YA literature.

So why do I seek stories with protagonists age 13-17? And why not a main character age 11 or age 21? Or why not an adult looking back nostalgically on teen years?  

Editor Cheryl Klein has an excellent blog post in which she defines young adult fiction--Theory: A Definition of YA Literature. As Klein points out YA novels have teen protagonists because YA novels focus on that unique period of time in life--adolescence. The Tomo stories, too, are meant to focus on adolescence and to be told with all the adolescent sensibilities and all the multiple vantage points from within that complicated phase of life. 

I hope that Tomo will be enjoyed by readers age 12 and up. I hope this anthology will be in schools and libraries for years to come. I hope that these stories will be read again and again. I love YA fiction, and it is my aim to create a rich, varied and dynamic collection of Japan-related YA fiction. 

Klein also offers another critical point at the end of her post, that a YA novel should end with some form of hope or promise, even if it is just a glimmer or possibility. I am holding tight to this requirement given the purpose of this anthology--a means of offering hope to those teens who are are coping within communities and landscapes so profoundly and painfully altered by the tsunami.

So please send me only YA stories. Some non-YA stories I have received have been wonderful, and they are difficult to turn down. There is, of course, some wiggle room, but a story for an adult or middle-grade audience generally does not belong in a YA collection. 

So please send me stories that fit these guidelines. I am committed to creating an anthology of Japan-related YA stories, and I know from all the tales that have been filling the Tomo inbox, that I will have plenty of compelling YA stories to choose from. Keep them coming for the next two weeks!

Holly Thompson

Editor, Tomo Anthology

One month until the Tomo submission deadline!

Just one month remains until the August 15, 2011 deadline for submitting Japan-related YA stories to be considered for Tomo.

The Tomo inbox has been busy with queries and submissions. Thank you, everyone, for your patience as I read, process, and respond. What a joy to be reading these Japan stories! I am inspired again and again.

Tomo: Japan Stories to Help and Heal is the title that we have settled on for the anthology, and we hope soon to be able to reveal the cover design.

I look forward to another month of Tomo submissions coming in from around the globe. The enthusiasm for this project is wonderful. Thank you!

Holly Thompson
Editor, Tomo: Japan Stories to Help and Heal

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

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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

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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.