jelly and books
I am in Tokyo for the Japanese publication of The Doll’s Alphabet, translated by the amazing Mayuko Ueda and published by Kawade and I want to gush about two things in particular- Japanese book covers and coffee jelly. My cover has a beautiful etching by the artist Jun Tada who has a few wonderful book covers out there- here is mine and some of his other designs!
I am also obsessed with the original cover design for Butter by Asako Yuzuki which is so much better than the UK cover. Contemporary British book covers are lame and conventional in comparison which is why if a book is older I like buying the 90s or 80s version rather than the latest one. When was the last time anyone was really struck by a British book cover, besides the debut of Fitzcarraldo?
Here is the cover for Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata- I am interviewing her in Edinburgh this coming October at Argonaut Books-do come!
The cover for Angela Carter’s The Magic Toyshop when translated in the 80s and some other ones I love as well.
I am a jelly lover but I’ve never had coffee jelly before and it is everywhere here, my perfect dessert. I had it in a really old cafe I imagined Angela Carter going to in the 70s when she lived here.
I’m jealous. I always wanted to be translated into Japanese, become horribly famous there, and retire anonymously to Antibes.
I used to live in Japan. Never had coffee jelly but did have a sugared curried doughnut. And potato ice cream!
Love the Japanese cover - gorgeous!