New Books Network Hiromi Ito, "The Thorn Puller" (Stone Bridge Press, 2022)
Mar 20, 2026
Jeffrey Angles, translator and professor of Japanese known for award-winning translations, discusses translating Hiromi Ito’s The Thorn Puller. He talks about discovering Ito’s work and their close collaborative process. He describes the book’s hybrid mix of prose and poetry, its sekyobushi influences, and themes of aging, caregiving, and Sugamo’s ritual place in the narrative.
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Monkey Imprint Turned Magazine Translations Into Books
- The Monkey imprint at Stonebridge grew from a Japanese-to-English anthology project that aimed to incubate Japanese works for U.S. publication.
- Monkey serialized portions of Ito's book in its magazines, which helped Jeffrey Angles complete and place The Thorn Puller as the imprint's launch title.
How A Fan Panel Launched A Translator Relationship
- Jeffrey Angles first encountered Hiromi Ito's revolutionary poetry during his PhD research and organized a panel to meet her in San Diego.
- That meeting led to him translating and publishing her first English collection Killing Kanoko in 2009, sparking their long collaboration.
Ito Blends I Novel Autobiography With Surreal Polyvocality
- The Thorn Puller mixes i-novel autobiography with surreal fiction and polyvocal references, refusing a single genre identity.
- Ito borrows voices, inserts surreal scenes (talking plants, transforming friends) and uses personal material as raw narrative fuel.
