Sachiko Kashiwaba is a prolific writer of children’s and young adult fantasy whose career spans more than four decades. Her works have garnered the prestigious Sankei, Shogakukan, and Noma children’s literature awards, and her novel The Marvelous Village Veiled in Mist influenced Hayao Miyazaki’s film Spirited Away. Temple Alley Summer received the 2022 Mildred L. Batchelder Award, was a July/August 2021 Kids’ Indie Next Pick, and a Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection. She lives in Iwate Prefecture.
Sachiko Kashiwaba’s festival appearance is generously supported by The Japan Foundation, Toronto. To learn more about the Foundation and the author’s other events, visit their website.
Linda Bondestam is one of the most celebrated illustrators in the Nordic countries. She is the illustrator and author of dozens of children’s books that have been translated into more than ten languages, including Good Night, Earth (2021). She was awarded the Snöbollen for Swedish Picture Book of the Year in 2016 and the Nordic Council Children and Young People’s Literature Prize in 2017 for Djur som ingen sett utom vi (Animals that no one has seen except us). She lives in Helsinki, Finland.
Linda Bondestam’s Festival appearance is generously supported by FILI – Finnish Literature Exchange.
Linda Bondestam appears as part of Nordic Bridges 2022.