Abstract

"Puffin was born in a cold, snowy place. /Rail was born in a sunny southern space./Puffins are birds that don't fly./Rails too are flightless birds./One night, Puffin dreamed about Rail. Rail dreamed of Puffin. They traded places inside their dreams."
(from editor's postscript) Puffin and Rail is a tale of transformation. I hink it's significant that this picture book is actually the vibrant transformation of an earlier work.First, Kan Mikami was inspired to write the original story about two birds. He showed it to Seitaro Kuroda, and Kuroda's painter's imagination was sparked. This is how come the first "Puffin and Rail".
I realized that what I wanted was to have the experience in English too, so I asked Arthur Binard if he would do a translation.Binard found inspiration in the work, and his English version has given new strangth and depth to the meaning.

Author’s Information

The auther;Kan Mikami was born in Aomori in 1950.A singer-songwriter. His various publications include books of poetry and collections of essays documenting life as a performer. His acting career has spanned decades.He appears in a number of films, such as Merry Christmas, Mr.Lawrence./ The illustrator; Seitaro Kuroda was born in Osaka in1939. Graphic designer.He journeyed to the US to learn as much as possible about art, illustration, and design.His picture books are read widely, He frequently holds workshops with children and does live painting performances./ The translator;Arthur Binard was born in Michigan in 1967. He started writing poetry in high school,and studied English Literature at Colgate University. An interest in the ideogram led him to Japan in 1990.He writes many esseys and picture books and transration book in Japanese.