Publisher Profile: Fine Line Press
Jim Smiley Tohoku Bunka Gakuen University, Sendai
From this issue of Between the Keys, Jim Smiley presents a series of interviews with smaller publishers who have a keen interest in Japan. The first is with with Graham Bathgate of Fine Line Press, a small publishing house based in New Zealand that focuses on Japan.
J.S.: Tell me about Fine Line Press.
G.B.: Fine Line Press is based in a small town north of Wellington, New Zealand. We publish books of stories about Japan; two more are due at the beginning of this year, 2012. The books’ main market comprises those interested in Japan: people who live or have lived there, have visited, or are thinking of visiting. Fine Line Press produces books of quality mostly by first-time writers, with a focus on Japan.
Recently one of the books has been popular with some participants on the JET (Japanese English Teacher) programme from New Zealand because the book “Ribbons of Fate” was written by a former JET. Our first book, “Glimpses of Old Tokyo”, is the memoirs of a Japanese woman, Masuho Fujita. In her 80s now, she recalls life in Tokyo in the 1930s. Another one, “Forty Stories of Japan”, contains stories about life in Japan through the eyes of some thirty writers from different countries, who lived there. The tales are interesting for their variety and wealth of experience not found in the usual guidebook.
Are there any of the stories in “Forty” that you would recommend? Well, they’re all very good! But if I had to pick some titles out, there’s “Elvis”, “The Love Hotel”, “Bears in Hokkaido”, “Nanohana Rhapsodising” and “A Walk Between Worlds”. And your story of “Tomoko” set in a company English lesson about an office lady asserting her female-hood reminds me of another one called “She Might be Keiko” about seeing a woman in a bar.
a shamaness, a yakuza Christian, an enlightened being, hunters, farmers, pilgrims, Hidden Christians, and even a scientist who is aiming to resurrect the woolly mammoth. There are interviews with members of the Ainu and buraku communities who talk about the discrimination they face.
And you say there’s a launch for “Japan on Foot” coming up? Yes, there are speaking engagements for Mary King in May with SWET (Society of Writers, Editors and Translators), one in Kyoto, the other in Tokyo at the Wesley Centre, Aoyama. There will also be a couple of private launches. Mary King will talk about the walk and answer questions. It should be great to come and hear the experiences of someone who has walked the length of Japan. She describes her walk brilliantly in “Japan on Foot”, zigzagging from the top of Hokkaido all the way to Okinawa, and all her thoughts and observations and historical stories, not to mention the physical exploit and how it felt. Totally exhausting, but it’s an inspiration.
How can anyone reading this write something for Fine Line Press? Simple, go to the website, www. finelinepress.co.nz, find the button “Do you write?”. There are guidelines such as personal experience, images of Japan, lyrical prose, clear observations showing the lighter side of life, around 2000 words. If the writer has a scintillating tale to tell and can write like a dream, then longer is OK. One of our strengths after receiving the stories is we make recommendations to the writer to create a piece that will fit well. The diversity of stories is an attraction and readers have mentioned this.
What’s the best thing about Fine Line Press? That it focuses on Japan, giving people the chance of writing their stories, people who live or have lived there, who may never have thought of writing their experiences; it encourages them to do so, and many of the results have been great. We will continue to produce high-quality writing and books but not closed either to the new paperless stuff, although I really don’t see people abandoning books, the weight and feel and smell of them is too alluring – maybe the pads and pods will imitate that with little bookish whiffs in the future.
And what about the next books?
There are two books due this year: another collection of short stories and Mary King’s walk through Japan in “Japan on Foot”, which has a foreword by Donald Richie. The book of short stories is by New Zealand and Australian writers mainly, appropriately called “Downunder Japan”. “Downunder Japan” contains some grand stories, especially the ones describing life and countryside in Ibaragi before the tsunami; others recount memories of risqué dance performing in rural Japan, a champion brood mare in Hokkaido, an arranged marriage, renovating a house in Kyoto, a ‘salaryman’ on holiday in the US experiencing hanging off an aeroplane afraid to make a parachute jump, and a yakuza being surprised in a toilet by a young Kiwi teacher. All good wholesome stuff!
You can read extracts from works and find out more information at: www. finelinepress.co.nz