Japanese poet and Buddhist writer
to give campus talk and reading One of Japan’s foremost contemporary writers, Hiromi Itō, will give a talk on classical Buddhism and a reading from her work at Western Michigan University on Wednesday, February 22. Both events are open to the public free of charge.
Itō’s talk, “Classical Buddhism, Where To? A Contemporary Writer’s Perspective,” is planned for 2 to 3:40 p.m in Room 2028 of Brown Hall. She will speak about her recent books on the Heart Sutra, the Japanese Buddhist teacher, Shinran, and their influence on contemporary religious thought. Dr. Stephen Covell, chair of WMU’s Department of Comparative Religion, and Dr. Jeffrey Angles, associate professor in the Department of Foreign Languages and director of the Soga Japan Center, will join Itō for the discussion.
A bilingual poetry reading of her work will presented from 6:30 to 8 p.m. in Room 2028 of Brown Hall by Itō and Angles, English translator of her book, “Killing Kanoko” (Action Books, 2009), followed by an open discussion and a book signing. Itō’s books will be available for purchase at the reading.
Born in 1955 in Tokyo, Itō is one of the most important and highly regarded poets in Japan. Since her debut in the late 1970s as a free-spirited and intelligent female poet with shamanistic qualities, Itō has published more than 10 collections of poetry including “Oume” (“Green Plums,” 1982), “Watashi wa Anjuhimeko de aru” (“I am Anjuhimeko,” 1993), and “Kawara Arekusa” (“Wild Grass upon a Riverbank,” 2005), which won the prestigious Takami Jun Award. A prolific writer, Itō has also published two novellas which were finalists for the Akutagawa Prize, Japan’s most prominent award for literary fiction, and a dozen essay collections on such diverse topics as child-rearing, foliage plants and English lessons, and several novellas.
Itō has consistently expanded her creative spheres to include the relationship between the sexes, motherhood, the oral traditions of Native Americans, pop songs from the 1960s, and the life cycles of plants. Japanese literary critic Nobuaki Tochigi has described Itō as “an omnivorous poet who can transmit and transform a variety of literary legacies.”
WMU’s Soga Japan Center is the principal organizer and sponsor of Ito’s visit, which is being co-sponsored by the Japan Foundation, and WMU’s Departments of Foreign Languages and Comparative Religion. For more information, write: jeffrey.angles@wmich.edu, or call (269) 387-3993. |
