Today, we’re delighted to present an excerpt from “Planet Tokyo” (Polirom, Romania, 1998), the debut novel of the Romanian-born writer Claudia Golea Sumiya who now lives in Japan, translated by another Romanian-born artist and writer who lives in Switzerland, Ana Prundaru. As Prundaru writes in her intro, the novel describes, “with radical honesty and deadpan humor, Golea Sumiya’s turbulent first year in Japan as a twenty-something-year-old student” and her struggle to build a new life first as a professional and then as a writer in a foreign country. We’re also excited to feature several of Ana Prundaru’s moody and intriguing collages on Japanese themes.
And remember, in September and beyond, take time to explore the world from your own living room through your favorite thought-provoking literary translations.
Let us know where they take you—we’d love to hear from you.
—Claudia Serea and Loren Kleinman
