MONKEY New Writing from Japan showcases the best of contemporary Japanese literature. MONKEY publishes short fiction and poetry by writers such as Hideo Furukawa, Hiromi Ito, Mieko Kawakami, Sachiko Kishimoto, Hiromi Kawakami, Aoko Matsuda, and Yōko Ogawa; interviews and essays by writers such as Haruki Murakami; new translations of the work of earlier writers such as Okamoto Kanoko, Sōseki Natsume, and Naoya Shiga; and graphic stories by Satoshi Kitamura and collaborations between Japanese authors and North American graphic artists, such as “The Visitor,” with a graphic narrative by Jon Klassen and text by Yōko Ogawa. 

Creating a bridge between Japanese and American writers and the audiences that love them, MONKEY also features work by American, British, and Canadian writers, including Paul Auster, Rebecca Brown, Stuart Dybek, Brian Evenson, Laird Hunt, Kelly Link, Eric McCormack, Steven Millhauser, Matthew Sharpe, and more.

For many of the MONKEY launch events, writers from Japan and writers in North America and the UK have the chance to read each other’s work and then participate in dynamic and often mind-cracking dialogue across cultures. Sometimes a new story develops out of this rich brew: Kevin Brockmeier’s “Continental Drift” was inspired by Mina Ishikawa’s tanka, Satoshi Kitamura’s graphic story “Variation and Theme” was inspired by a poem by Charles Simic.

MONKEY participates in PEN America’s annual PEN World Voices Festival in New York, and has also participated in the Toronto International Festival of Authors (TIFA, formerly IFOA) in Toronto, the Tokyo International Literary Festival, and Japan Now in London, UK, among others.

MONKEY tours across North America with writers from Japan, and has traveled to the UK and parts of Asia, including Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines. 

First formed under the name Monkey Business: New Writing from Japan, in collaboration with A Public Space, Monkey Business published 7 volumes from 2011 to 2017. 

Rebranded in 2020 as MONKEY New Writing from Japan, MONKEY is the English-language offspring of the Tokyo-based Japanese literary journal MONKEY, founded by Motoyuki Shibata, one of Japan’s most acclaimed translators of American fiction. Selections are made by Shibata and Ted Goossen, one of the leading translators of Japanese fiction working today.