Zen Cho, V. Kupersmith & Sachiko Kashiwaba: The Allure of the Supernatural

In English and Japanese (translated)

Many traditionally published stories by Asian writers (diasporic or otherwise) feature ghosts or supernatural elements. Why do Asian ghosts make such compelling reading? Daphne Lee explores ghostly themes with Malaysian fantasy writer Zen Cho (Black Water Sister), American novelist Violet Kupersmith (Build Your House Around My Body) and Japanese children’s author Sachiko Kashiwaba (Temple Alley Summer), translated by Avery Fischer Udagawa.

Zen Cho - winner of the Hugo, Crawford and British Fantasy Awards and the LA Times Book Prize/Ray Bradbury Prize, as well as a finalist for the World Fantasy, Ignyte, Lambda, Locus and Astounding Awards.

Daphne Lee - McKay Hammer Award (2017)

Violet Kupersmith - Bard Fiction Prize for her first novel, Build Your House Around My Body

S Kashiwaba - Winner of the 2022 Mildred L. Batchelder Award.

The Festival wishes to thank The Malaysian Chamber of Commerce (Hong Kong & Macau) for making Zen Cho's visit possible. And our thanks to Hong Kong Baptist University and the U.S. Consulate General Hong Kong and Macau for making Violet Kupersmith's visit possible. Thank you!

Zen Cho is the author of historical fantasies Sorcerer to the Crown, The True Queen and The Order of the Pure Moon Reflected in Water, as well as a short story collection, Spirits Abroad.

Her newest novel, Black Water Sister, is a contemporary fantasy set in Malaysia. Cho is a winner of the Hugo, Crawford and British Fantasy Awards and the LA Times Book Prize/Ray Bradbury Prize, as well as a finalist for the World Fantasy, Ignyte, Lambda, Locus and Astounding Awards. She was born and raised in Malaysia, resides in the UK, and lives in a notional space between the two.

Violet Kupersmith is the author of the short story collection The Frangipani Hotel and the novel Build Your House Around My Body, a finalist for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize and which is currently being translated into three languages. After graduating from Mount Holyoke College, she taught English with the Fulbright Program in the Mekong Delta. She is the recipient of fellowships from the MacDowell Colony and the University of East Anglia, where she was the 2015-2016 David T.K. Wong writer-in-residence. She has previously lived in Da Lat and Saigon, Vietnam, and currently resides in the U.S. She is presently a 2023 Writer-in-Residence in the International Writers' Workshop at Hong Kong Baptist University.

Sachiko Kashiwaba is a prolific writer of children's and young adult fantasy whose career spans more than four decades. Her works have garnered the prestigious Sankei, Shogakukan, and Noma children's literature awards, and her novel 'The Mysterious Village Veiled in Mist' influenced Hayao Miyazaki's film Spirited Away. Her works have recently been animated as the films The Wonderland and The House of the Lost on the Cape, and her novel 'Temple Alley Summer', illustrated by Miho Satake and translated by Avery Fischer Udagawa, won the American Library Association's 2022 Mildred L. Batchelder Award. She lives in Morioka, Iwate Prefecture, Japan.

Avery Fischer Udagawa's translations of children's literature from Japanese include the 2022 Mildred L. Batchelder Award-winning novel 'Temple Alley Summer' by Sachiko Kashiwaba, illustrated by Miho Satake, and the historical novel 'J-Boys: Kazuo's World', Tokyo, 1965' by Shogo Oketani. Her short story translations have appeared in Kyoto Journal, Words Without Borders, Tomo: Friendship Through Fiction -An Anthology of Japan Teen Stories, The Best Asian Short Stories 2018, and A Tapestry of Colours 1: Stories from Asia. She serves as Translator Coordinator in the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators. She lives near Bangkok, Thailand.