I write books for kids and translate from Japanese to English. I love playing with language. In the past, I founded a school and built curricula for teaching world languages to children from newborn through elementary. I like to explore the world through travel, books, language, and (especially) dessert!
I’m currently revising a middle grade verse novel that includes: boba tea, Yiddish, soup dumplings, beatboxing, and donuts. Once you include friends, family, and nature in that list, you know a lot about me. (The last version won the CANSCAIP Best Middle Grade award!)
I’ve written some articles for KidLitCraft and WorldKidLit.
I’ve also written some articles for ParentMap about raising kids with an appreciation for the world.
Through SCBWI San Francisco/South, I host two two book clubs focused on craft. One for middle grade writers and one for picture book writers.
I love languages. I translate from Japanese to English, primarily picture books and middle grade. I also edit translations from other languages.
As the co-editor of World Kid Lit, I hope to expand the reach of children's books from around the world.
In 2020-2021, I was the first Scholar-in-Residence for SCBWI San Francisco/South where I focused on sharing the benefits of reading children’s lit from around the world.