Sakura is the story of a family who is happy, until it isn't. Skipping back and forth in time, it begins when the narrator, Kaoru, receives a letter from his estranged father announcing he will be home in Osaka for New Year's. The letter spurs Kaoru to go back to his childhood home, and though he is apprehensive at returning, his spirits are unexpectedly lifted when he is greeted by Sakura, the family dog...

Kanako Nishi is a Japanese writer and artist. She is the author of the novels Sakura, which was a major bestseller in Japan; Tsutenkaku (Osaka Tower), which won the Sakunosuke Oda Prize; Fukuwarai (Lucky Laugh), which received the first Hayao Kawai Prize; and Saraba!, which won the prestigious Naoki prize in 2015. She was named Vogue Japan’s Woman of the Year in 2015 and among Granta’s Best of Young Japanese Novelists 2016. Several of her books have been adapted for film. Born in Tehran in 1977, Nishi grew up in Cairo and Osaka and lives in Tokyo.

Allison Markin Powell is a literary translator, editor, and publishing consultant. She received the 2020 PEN America Translation Prize for The Ten Loves of Nishino by Hiromi Kawakami. Her other translations and co-translations include works by Osamu Dazai, Shiori Ito, Ryunosuke Akutagawa, and Kaoru Takamura.

The event will be moderated by Abigail Friedman, an award-winning haiku poet who began composing haiku while living in Japan as an American diplomat. Abigail is the author of four haiku-related books: The Haiku Apprentice: Memoirs of Writing Poetry in Japan (Stone Bridge Press); I Wait for the Moon: 100 Haiku of Momoko Kuroda (Stone Bridge Press); Street Chatter Fading (Larkspur Press); and The Azaleas are Silent (Haiku Nature Press). Abigail leads the Japan-America Society Haiku Group of Washington, DC, which meets in person every other month.

Accessibility note: This event is up two flights of stairs, and Lost City Books does not have an elevator. Please contact [email protected] with questions.

Hosted by Lost City Books, 2467 18th St., NW, Washington, DC. Learn more here.