Authors and illustrators

Authors

Yumi Katoh

Yumi Katoh was born in Toyama, Japan and lives in Tokyo. She has been teaching English since she was young, and now teaches at a private school in Yokohama as well as at a "juku" (private tutoring school). She writes both in Japanese and English, and translates English stories into Japanese.

Bambi Morino

Bambi Morino is a freelance translator and provides services in various sectors including tourism. She was born in Japan and became a British citizen in 2002. She served in the RAF for 6 years. Her hobbies are playing the piano, walking her two adorable Chihuahuas and baking. She also enjoys writing books for children.

Shinsuke Takasaki

Shinsuke Takasaki writes short stories, proses and poems both in English and Japanese, and also translates between the two languages. He also creates a collage of text and image in print. His works have been published in The Lighter (Indiana), In/sects (Osaka), and Ha!art (Krakow). He has performed the reading of his work at Métro (Kyoto), Nuyorican Poet Café and FiveMyles (Brooklyn). Currently lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Akiko Yamanaka-Binns

Akiko Yamanaka-Binns was born in Tokyo and now lives in the UK. She is a writer whose work ranges from journalism, including articles on culture, international trends and UK news to creative writing and design. She is currently writing a novel. She is interested in Japanese culture, music and travel.

Illustrators

Kenji Mori

<自己紹介>

芸術系の大学を卒業後、長年デザイン関係の仕事をしてきました。

2000年に親の介護の為福岡県の実家に帰郷。

以来、フリーで造形活動をしています。

いつも意識することは、「今、此処で、何を、」です。

造作のほとんどは身近な生活の中から生まれます。

生活は私の発想の原点であり素敵な素材なのです。

After graduating, I worked for a design company. In 2000, I returned to my hometown to look after my elderly parents and since then I have been working as a freelance artist. I am always very conscious about ‘now, here and what?’. Most of creative works start from very close to everyday life. The everyday life is the starting point of my creation and itself is a wonderful raw material.

Kotaro Chiba

Kotaro lives and works in Niigata, Japan, where he has been creating illustrations since 2005. In addition to illustration, he also specialises in logo design (branding) and graphic design.

Pana Stamos

Pana Stamos is an illustrator and comic artist based in San Francisco. Previous titles she has worked on include NO8DO: She Has Not Abandoned Me and Iris Print's The Nimbletons. Her webcomic, Machine Flower, has over half a million readers worldwide. Trained mostly in the art of book and magazine illustration, Pana has also dabbled in the video game and animation industries, working as the color designer and texture artist for several 3D-animated shorts, including The Monster Within, which aired between programmes on the Nicktoons channel.