In this playfully structured collection of stories and photographs, Kawase journeys from Japan to the Ethiopian streets of Gondar where he spent one year. He learns from a diverse cast of characters including local bards, musicians and priests, including the young Azmari singer Tigabu and the Lalibela poet Tilahun.
This is the first English translation of the 2021 Suntory Literary Prize-winning Japanese authorand visual anthropologist, Itsushi Kawase.
About the author
Itsushi Kawase is an anthropologist, filmmaker, and poet born in Gifu, Japan. He has been conducting research on Ethiopia’s hereditary singer-poets since 2001. Currently he is an associate professor at Japan’s National Museum of Ethnology and
the Graduate University for Advanced Studies.
He has won numerous awards for his writing and films, most recently the 2022 Umesao Tadao Literary Prize.
About the Translator
The book’ s translator, Jeffrey Johnson has an academic background in anthropology and
literature. Born in America, he lived in Spain and now resides in Tokyo. Johnson has previously authored works of literary criticism and a poetry book titled, “Conjurers Dream of Voyage”. In addition to this project, he is the translator of “Landforms and Climates”, a collaboration of four outstanding poets of the contemporary Japanese scene. He is also a founding editor of the Tokyo Poetry Journal.
Published by Awai Books, 30 June 2023, Non-fiction, Available on Amazon
Published by WH Allen (18 April 2024)