•The Folio Society is preparing a new hardcover edition of Lafcadio Hearn’s short story collection Japanese Ghost Stories, featuring illustrations by the illustrator Yuko Shimizu, known for her work on The Unwritten.
According to a report by Jesse Schedeen for IGN, preorders for the upcoming edition will open soon, with the publisher debuting an exclusive look at some of Shimizu’s illustrations ahead of that launch.
The collection includes a translation by Royall Tyler and a new introduction written by Japanese novelist Yoko Ogawa. The Folio Society describes the stories as “famous throughout Japan” and part of “that country’s culture of the supernatural.”
“I love the way we’ve taken something traditional and given it a modern twist,” said Folio Society Editor Mandy Kirby in a statement. “At first glance, you might think Yuko Shimizu’s illustrations are from the time of Hokusai, but look closer and you can see that they have modern touches, and the cover is unmistakably 21st century.”
Mandy Kirby, Folio Society Editor
Kirby added that Ogawa “talks about Japan’s obsession with ghosts and demons, and how unsettling and scary these stories actually are,” calling them “absolute gems of the supernatural, the perfect read for the ghostly season.”
Orders for Japanese Ghost Stories will open on the Folio Society website on October 13.
In other news, the company announced it is also releasing a new edition of Anthony Bourdain’s classic memoir Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly.
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