Polly Barton
Polly Barton is a translator of Japanese literature and non-fiction, currently based in Bristol. Her most recent full-length translations include Spring Garden by Tomoka Shibasaki (Pushkin Press) and Where the Wild Ladies Are by Matsuda Aoko (Tilted Axis/Soft Skull Press), and Kikuko Tsumura’s novel, There’s No Such Thing as an Easy Job (Bloomsbury). Her debut non-fiction work, Fifty Sounds, is published by Fitzcarraldo Editions in April 2021.
Polly Barton on Granta.com
Essays & MemoirEssays & Memoir | The Online Edition
Essays & Memoir | The Online Edition
Uwaa: the sound of the feeling that cannot be spoken
Polly Barton
An excerpt from Fifty Sounds, a memoir by Polly Barton, translator of Aoko Matsuda and Kikuko Tsumura.
FictionFiction | The Online Edition
Fiction | The Online Edition
Dancing for the Avatar
Kō Machida
‘If I let myself sink down into this I’m never coming back up.’
FictionFiction | The Online Edition
Fiction | The Online Edition
One Hundred Years and a Day
Tomoka Shibasaki
‘After a while people’s faces began to fade, and they came to seem like hoards of noppera-bō, faceless spirits gliding by.’
Two stories by Tomoka Shibasaki.
FictionFiction | The Online Edition
Fiction | The Online Edition
A Ghost in Brazil
Kikuko Tsumura
‘I was ever so keen to visit the Aran Islands, but unfortunately, I died before ever making it out of Japan.’
Essays & MemoirEssays & Memoir | The Online Edition
Essays & Memoir | The Online Edition
Commuting Through Coronavirus
Kikuko Tsumura
‘My friend and her colleagues are being told not to get infected. Infections among employees will affect the company’s reputation, and would be an inconvenience to clients.’
FictionFiction | The Online Edition
Fiction | The Online Edition
Enoki
Aoko Matsuda
‘Without any forewarning or explanation, people suddenly began visiting. They came in droves to find her.’
A story by Aoko Matsuda, translated by Polly Barton.
Fiction | Issue 148
The Water Tower and the Turtle
Kikuko Tsumura
‘It was safe to say I didn’t really know anybody in this town at all.’ New fiction translated from the Japanese by Polly Barton.
Fiction | Issue 148
The Woman Dies
Aoko Matsuda
‘The woman dies. She dies to provide a plot twist. She dies to develop the narrative. She dies for cathartic effect. She dies because no one could think of what else to do with her.’ Aoko Matsuda, translated from the Japanese by Polly Barton.
Fiction | Issue 148
From the Left Bank of the Flu
Misumi Kubo
‘The big road looked to me like a river, the cars rushing by as if carried along on its current.’
Fiction | Issue 148
Smartening Up
Aoko Matsuda
‘‘Let’s become monsters together,’ she said, looking straight into my eyes.’
