Ted Goossen

Founding Editor

TED GOOSSEN is a literary translator, professor emeritus at York University in Toronto, and one of the founding editors of Monkey Business and MONKEY New Writing from Japan. He is the editor of The Oxford Book of Japanese Short Stories. He translated Haruki Murakami’s Wind/Pinball and The Strange Library, and co-translated (with Philip Gabriel) Men Without Women and Killing Commendatore. His translations of Hiromi Kawakami’s People from My Neighbourhood and Naoya Shiga’s Reconciliation were published in 2020. His translation of the story collection Dragon Palace by Hiromi Kawakami was published under the MONKEY imprint with Stone Bridge Press in 2023. His translations of Murakami, Shiga, Kawakami, and others are featured in Monkey Business and MONKEY.

Photo credit: YCAR

Motoyuki Shibata

Founding Editor

MOTOYUKI SHIBATA translates American literature and runs the Japanese literary journal MONKEY. He has translated Paul Auster, Rebecca Brown, Stuart Dybek, Steve Erickson, Brian Evenson, Laird Hunt, Kelly Link, Steven Millhauser, Richard Powers, and Charles Simic, among others. His translation of Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was a bestseller in Japan in 2018. His recent translations include Eric McCormack’s Cloud and Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels. He is professor emeritus at the University of Tokyo.

Illustration Credit: Satomi Shimabukuro

Meg Taylor

Managing Editor

Meg Taylor is the founder of the nonprofit MONKEY New Writing from Japan, based in Pittsburgh. She edits Japanese literature in translation and art books and exhibition catalogues. She is also the academic coordinator for the Publishing program at Toronto Metropolitan University (formerly Ryerson) in Toronto.

Photo credit: Katie Brook

Roland Kelts

Contributing Editor

Roland Kelts is a Tokyo-based writer whose work is published in the US, UK, and Japan. He is the author of Japanamerica: How Japanese Pop Culture Has Invaded the US, and has taught literature, writing, and media studies at the University of Tokyo, Waseda University, and New York University. He was a 2017 Nieman Fellow in Journalism at Harvard University. www.japanamericabook.com

Photo credit: Lisa Kato

Tiff Joshua TJ Ferentini

Marketing Manager

Tiff Joshua TJ Ferentini is a writer, editor, and translator. They are an editor for Kodansha Comics at Penguin Random House, a 2019 Lambda Literary Emerging Writers Fellow, and co-editor of Fat & Queer: An Anthology of Queer and Trans Bodies and Lives (Jessica Kingsley Publishers). Tiff’s writing has appeared in The Gambler, Off the Rocks: An Anthology of GLBT Writing (NewTown Writers Press), and Songs of My Selfie: An Anthology of Millennial Writing (Three Rooms Press) and elsewhere.

Kaori Drome

Graphic Designer / Web

Kaori Drome is a graphic designer and art director based in Denver, Colorado. Originally from Fukuoka, Japan, she holds a BFA in Graphic Design from the Academy of Art University in San Francisco. Her practice focuses on branding and identity: www.kaoridrome.com

Sayaka Toyama

Event Coordinator

Sayaka Toyama was born in Nagano, Japan, and studied writing and literature at Emerson College in Boston. After working for the New York studio of Japanese artist Takashi Murakami, she founded Curious Corners in 2014 as the anchor for her various projects to promote Japanese culture through art, design, literature, and textiles. She also serves as the consulting director of Seizan Gallery New York.