Wikipedia

Draft:Erika Kobayashi

  • Comment: So, the titles of all her books published in Japan, and all her exhibitions held in Japan, and both her screenplays, are not in Japanese but in English?
    Is being a member of the Japan Pen Club worthy of note?
    What has been disinterestedly written (by critics, curators, academics, etc) about Kobayashi's works? Hoary (talk) 07:10, 11 April 2024 (UTC)
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    Thank you so much for this feedback! I used the translated names of her works for the sake of readability, but I see now that this is probably the wrong approach. I will look at some articles about Japanese authors and follow their approach to the bibliography. Esmb17 (talk) 17:58, 11 April 2024 (UTC)
Erika Kobayashi
Born24 January 1978
Tokyo, Japan
OccupationAuthor, artist
EducationUniversity of Tokyo Graduate School of Interdisciplinary Information Studies
RelativesTsukasa Kobayashi (father), Akane Higashiyama (mother)

Erika Kobayashi (小林エリカ, Kobayashi Erika) is a Japanese author, esperantist, multi-media installation artist, and manga artist. She began publishing her work professionally in 2001 and is still active today, recently working alongside translator Brian Bergstrom.

Biography edit

Personal life edit

Erika Kobayashi (小林エリカ, Kobayashi Erika) was born on January 24, 1978 in Tokyo, Japan to Tsukasa Kobayashi (小林司, Kobayashi Tsukasa) and Akane Higashiyama (東山あかね, Higashiyama Akane), two high-profile Japanese translators of Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes.[1] She was raised in Ōizumi (大泉), a small town within the Nerima City Ward (練馬区, Nerima-ku) on the outskirts of Tokyo.[2] In 2020 Kobayashi revealed that she has a child.[3]

Career edit

In 2001 She received a masters degree from the University of Tokyo Graduate School of Interdisciplinary Information Studies (東京大学・学際情報学府, Tōkyō Daigaku Gakusai Jōhōgakubu).[4] Subsequently, she began publishing her work.

In 2003 Kobayashi was appointed as the Japan Foundation's Banff Center artist in residence, and, in 2006 as the Nomura International Cultural Foundation's artist in residence at EAA in Estonia, and at CAMAC in France.[5] In 2010 alongside fellow Japanese esperantists Mina Tabei, Kasane Nogawa, and Hisae Maeda, Kobayashi founded the Tokyo based studio “kvina”, and began producing LIBRO de KVINA, a book series in Japanese, English, and Esperanto.[6] In 2023, Kobayashi was selected by AC Japan as lead illustrator for Plan International's "I Didn't Even Know I had a Different Life" (私に違う人生があることすら知らなかった), an advertising campaign lead by the Japanese NGO that advocates for women's education globally.[7]

Literary Focuses edit

Kobayashi's novels explicate the nature of histories and memories of radiation across generations through her exploration of the lives of women. Chiefly through the relationships of mothers, daughters, and granddaughters, and birth and death. Her examinations seek to make that which is invisible, (namely illness, radiation, and the lives of the isolated)[8] visible. [9][10][11] In addition to the scientific history of radiation, Kobayashi takes interest in the events with which its history is deeply entangled; the atomic bomb, the Great East Japan Earthquake, the 1936 Berlin Olympics, and the Tokyo Olympics of 1964 and 2020 are all topics that her works have investigated. [12] Many of Kobayashi's exhibitions are based on her literary works, expanding upon them visually through depictions of light and luminance, again making the unseen, seen.[13][14]

Publications and exhibitions edit

Bibliography edit

Japanese title English title Publisher Year Notes
ネバーソープランド Never Soapland Kawade Shobo Shinsha 2001
空爆の日に会いましょう Let’s meet on the day of the airstrike Magazine House 2002
終わりとはじまり The End and the Beginning Magazine House 2006
この気持ちいったい何語だったらつうじるの? Dear Kitties Little More 2011
親愛なるキティーたちへ Unforgettable Seidosha 2013
忘れられないの Children of Light 1 Little More 2013
マダム・キュリーと朝食を Breakfast with Madame Curie Shueisha 2014 Nominated for the 27th Yukio Mishima Prize, and 151st Ryunosuke Akutagawa Prize
光の子ども 2 Children of Light 2 Little More 2016
彼女は鏡の中を覗きこむ She looks into the mirror Shueisha 2017
光の子ども3 Children of Light 3 Little More 2019
トリニティ、トリニティ、トリニティ Trinity, Trinity, Trinity Shueisha 2019 Winner of the 7th Iron Dog Heterotopia Literary Award
最後の挨拶 His Last Bow Kodansha 2021 Winner of the 44th Japan Sherlock Holmes Award "Encouragement Award"
闇は光の母わたしはしなないおんなのこ Darkness is The Mother of Light, I am a Silent Woman Iwasaki Shoten 2021

Translated Works edit

Language Japanese title Translated title Translator Publisher Year Notes
French トリニティ、トリニティ、トリニティ Trinity, Trinity, Trinity Mathilde Tamae-Bouhon DALVA 2021
English トリニティ、トリニティ、トリニティ Trinity, Trinity, Trinity Brian Bergstrom Astra House 2022 Winner of the 2022 Japan-U.S. Friendship Foundation Japanese Literature Translation Award
English "SUNRISE" 日出ずる SUNRISE: Radiant Stories Brian Bergstrom Astra House 2023

Exhibitions edit

Exhibition Type Japanese title English title Location Year
Solo Trinity Trinity Karuizawa New Art Museum, Nagano 2017
Solo 野鳥の森　1F 1F in the Forest of Wild Birds Yutaka Kikutake Gallery, Tokyo 2019
Solo His Last Bow His Last Bow Yamamoto Keiko Rochaix, London 2019
Group The Radiants The Radiants Bortolami Gallery, New York 2015
Group 六本木クロッシング2016展：僕の身体（からだ）、あなたの声 Roppongi Crossing 2016: My Body, Your Voice Mori Art Museum, Tokyo 2016
Group 更級日記考―女性たちの、想像の部屋 Women Imagining Rooms: About the Diary of Lady Sarashina Ichihara Lakeside Museum, Chiba 2019
Group 話しているのは誰？　現代美術に潜む文学 Image Narratives: Literature in Japanese Contemporary Art The National Art Center, Tokyo 2019
Group りんご前線 — Hirosaki Encounters Hirosaki Encounters Hirosaki Museum of Contemporary Art, Aomori 2022

Screenplays edit

Japanese title English title Collaborators Year
女の子たち 紡ぐと織る Girls, Spinning, and Weaving Saho Terao, Ichiko Aoba 2022
女の子たち 風船爆弾をつくる Girls, Making Paper Balloon Bombs Saho Terao 2023

References edit

  1. ^ "ABOUT — erikakobayashi". erikakobayashi.com. Retrieved 2022-11-15.
  2. ^ "My Poison Snake: Erika Kobayashi on Growing Up in a Household of Sherlock Translators". CrimeReads. 2022-06-29. Retrieved 2022-11-15.
  3. ^ "「理想の母の形に縛られたくない」 山崎ナオコーラさん×小林エリカさんが対談". 好書好日 (in Japanese). Retrieved 2024-03-11.
  4. ^ "2001 - 東京大学大学院 情報学環・学際情報学府". www.iii.u-tokyo.ac.jp (in Japanese). 2016-04-14. Retrieved 2022-11-17.
  5. ^ "art.parco.jp".
  6. ^ https://librodekvina.cargo.site/
  7. ^ "2023年度支援キャンペーン：私に違う人生があることすら知らなかった。｜Ａｃジャパン".
  8. ^ https://honsuki.jp/review/52453/index.html
  9. ^ https://www.catranslation.org/person/erika-kobayashi/
  10. ^ https://www.vulture.com/article/trinity-trinity-trinity-erika-kobayashi-review-radiation-japan-olympics.html
  11. ^ https://www.westtradereview.com/westendkobayashireview23.html
  12. ^ https://www.ika-ostranenie.com/post/%E3%80%8E%E3%83%88%E3%83%AA%E3%83%8B%E3%83%86%E3%82%A3%E3%80%81%E3%83%88%E3%83%AA%E3%83%8B%E3%83%86%E3%82%A3%E3%80%81%E3%83%88%E3%83%AA%E3%83%8B%E3%83%86%E3%82%A3%E3%80%8F-%E5%B0%8F%E6%9E%97%E3%82%A8%E3%83%AA%E3%82%AB
  13. ^ https://www.iii.u-tokyo.ac.jp/event/210917homecoming
  14. ^ https://www.westtradereview.com/westendkobayashireview23.html
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