The Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures will host the guest lecture by Dr. David Boyd, Assistant Professor of Japanese, UNC Charlotte, on Friday, April 14, at 2:30 p.m. in ZSR Auditorium (404). Dr. Boyd has translated fiction by various Japanese authors and co-translated  Mieko Kawakami’s Heaven (Europa Editions, 2021), which was shortlisted for the 2022 International Booker Prize. In this lecture, Dr. Boyd will discuss Japanese sci-fi author Izumi Suzuki's work, “Hey, It’s A Love Psychedelic!” (1982), detailing the translation process. This event is sponsored by EALC, the Interpreting and Translation Studies program, the Wake Forest University Humanities Institute with support made possible by a major grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. Please see below for the details.

      Izumi Suzuki was born in Shizuoka in 1949 and came of age during the sixties. After working for a short time as a keypunch operator, she moved on to acting, modeling, and writing. By the early seventies, Suzuki had carved out a space for herself in Japan’s male-dominated science fiction scene, writing stories that were often set in strange worlds but explored deeply domestic themes.
      Terminal Boredom, the first collection of Suzuki’s work to appear in English, was published by Verso Books in 2021. This year, Verso is publishing Suzuki’s second collection of stories: Hit Parade of Tears. In this talk, David Boyd will discuss one of his contributions to this eleven-story volume, “Hey, It’s A Love Psychedelic!” (Nanto, koi no saikederikku!; 1982), detailing the translation process from first read to final draft.