For the Fighting Spirit of the Walnut

Takashi Hiraide was born in Moji, Kitakyushu in 1950. He has published numerous books of poetry as well as several books of genre-bending essays, including one on poetics and baseball. He currently lives in the west suburbs of Tokyo with a cat and his wife, the poet Michiyo Kawano.

Sawako Nakayasu was born in Japan and has lived mostly in the US since the age of six. Her most recent books are THE ANTS (Les Figues, 2014) and a translation of THE COLLECTED POEMS OF SAGAWA CHIKA (Canarium Books, 2014). She is also the author of SO WE HAVE BEEN GIVEN TIME OR (Verse Press/Wave Books, 2004), NOTHING FICTIONAL BUT THE ACCURACY OR ARRANGEMENT (SHE (Quale Press, 2006), and TEXTURE NOTES (Letter Machine Editions, 2010). Her other translations include FOUR FROM JAPAN: CONTEMPORARY POETRY & ESSAYS BY WOMEN (Litmus Press, 2006), To the Vast Blooming Sky by Sagawa (2007), and For the Fighting Spirit of the Walnut by Hiraide (2008). Her poetry has been translated into Japanese, Swedish, Arabic, Chinese, and Vietnamese. She holds an MFA from Brown University and has received grants from the NEA and PEN for translating Japanese poetry.