THIS IS AN IN-PERSON EVENT AND WILL NOT BE LIVE STREAMING.

ABOUT NAILS AND EYES

A young girl loses her mother, and her father blindly invites his secret lover into the family home to care for her. Obsessively trying to curate a pristine life, this new interloper remains indifferent to the girl, who seems to record her every move – and she realizes only too late all that she has failed to see.

With masterful narrative control, Nails and Eyes—appearing in English for the first time—builds to a conclusion of disturbing power. Paired with two additional stories of unsettled minds and creeping tension, it introduces a daring new voice in Japanese literature.

To learn more about the book, and to purchase your copy, follow the link below:

https://www.semcoop.com/event/kaori-fujino-kendall-heitzman-nails-and-eyes

This program will feature a reading in Japanese by the author, with the English version translated and presented by Kendall Heitzman (University of Iowa). A light reception will take place immediately following the program.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Kaori Fujino, a lifelong resident of Kyoto, is best known for fiction that reimagines tropes from horror, science fiction, Hollywood thrillers, urban legends, fairy tales, and museum culture. She holds an MA in aesthetics and art from Doshisha University. In 2013, Fujino was awarded the Akutagawa Prize, Japan’s most prominent literary prize, for Nails and Eyes. In the fall of 2017, she was in residence at the University of Iowa’s prestigious International Writing Program. Her stories have appeared in English translation in Granta, Monkey, and the US-Japan Women's Journal.

ABOUT THE TRANSLATOR

Kendall Heitzman is Associate Professor of Japanese Literature and Culture at the University of Iowa, where he teaches literature, film, theater, and the Japanese-to-English translation workshop. He is the author of Enduring Postwar: Yasuoka Shōtarō and Literary Memory in Japan (Vanderbilt University Press, 2019). His translations of Furukawa Hideo appear in recent issues of the literary journal Monkey. His translation of Fujino Kaori’s Nails and Eyes (Pushkin Press, 2023) received the Japan-US Friendship Commission Prize for the Translation of Japanese Literature.

SPONSORS

This event is co-sponsored with the Japan Foundation, New York, the University of Iowa's Center for Asian and Pacific Studies, and the Seminary Co-op Bookstores.

PHOTOGRAPHY/VIDEOGRAPHY

Please note that there may be photography taken, or videography being done during this educational event by the University of Chicago Center for East Asian Studies for archival and publicity purposes. By attending this event, participants are confirming their permission to be photographed and the University of Chicago’s right to use, distribute, copy, and edit the recordings in any form of media for non-commercial, educational purposes, and to grant rights to third parties to do any of the foregoing.

Nails and Eyes Author & Translator Event: Kaori Fujino and Kendall Heitzman