Edward Lipsett, an American immigrant to Japan and a professional translator, founded Kurodahan Press with two colleagues in Japan in 2002. Between then and 2025, Kurodahan Press published a wealth of Japanese texts in various genres (including speculative fiction) in English translation. Here, I ask him about sf, publishing, and translation. Rachel at SFT (SFT):
Author, editor, and translator Marian Womack has put together a list of horror in translation for Reactor. Check it out!
translated by Matt Treyvaud original publication (in Japanese): 2002 first English edition: 2018, Haikasoru 352 pages grab a copy here or through your local independent bookstore or library **spoilers** “What does it mean to remember? What is a memory?” (79). Thus opens Chapter 3 of Tobi Hirotaka’s sf-horror novel The Thousand Year Beach (skillfully translated
“Threehearts and Me” by Clelia Farris, translated from the Italian by Rachel Cordasco (Bourbon Penn, November 1) “Trees at Night” by Ramiro Sanchiz, translated from the Spanish by Sue Burke (Clarkesworld, November 1) Ice by Jacek Dukaj, translated from the Polish by Ursula Phillips (Head of Zeus, November 6) A Trans-Siberian odyssey through political, criminal,
translated by Kathleen Taji original publication (in Japanese): 1999 first English edition: 2012, Kurodahan Press 344 pages grab a copy here or through your local independent bookstore or library Crystal Silence is one of the many excellent works of Japanese sf in translation published by the now-sadly-shuttered Kurodahan Press. Sprawling, technically detailed, and ambitious, Fujisaki
Italian SF author Clelia Farris’s novel Veg-humans is out in English (translated by yours truly): On an island in the Mediterranean sea, Astarte, an agricultural cooperative of young farmers, is facing the consequences of drought. Despite the World Climate Organization helping populations to move north to the Arctic lands – the only arable lands –
Anita Moskát and translator Austin Wagner talk about Moskát’s story “Liecraft,” included in the latest issue of Apex Magazine.
translated by Gustav Lannestock original publication (in Swedish): 1940 first English edition: 1966, the University of Wisconsin Press 220 pages grab a copy here or through your local independent bookstore or library Kallocain is often grouped with Yevgeny Zamyatin’s We (1920, tr. 1924), Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World (1932), and George Orwell’s 1984 (1949) because
Hamid Ismailov and translator Shelley Fairweather-Vega talk on Words Without Borders about the the genesis and translation of We Computers, longlisted for the 2025 National Book Award for Translated Literature.
translated from the Spanish by Sarah Moses first English edition: 2025, Invisible Publishing 192 pages grab a copy here or through your local independent bookstore or library Some of the nineteen stories in Tomás Downey’s collection Diving Board are difficult to read–violence happens without warning and is described with a deadpan tone that’s downright disturbing.
