In 2002, I went to Japan for the first time with my friend Yuka. We spent time in Kawaguchi-ko, where I took this picture of Mt. Fuji. Kawaguchi-ko is the epi-center of the one of the most recent earthquakes. Yuka still does not know if her family’s house there has been destroyed. Meanwhile, other family members are being evacuated because of radiation leaks at the Fukushima Power Facility, bodies are washing up on the shore from the tsunami, and most of the country is without power.  Yuka has been keeping people here in the U.S. updated, unfortunately the day to day lives of everyone in Japan seem to be getting progressively worse. I wanted to share this information from Yuka. Please donate, if you can.

Dear Friends,

First of all, I would like to thank everyone who contacted me about my family in Japan. My family and friends are safe. However, the disaster that hit Japan this past week has been heartbreaking not only to my family but also the entire nation. As a Japanese citizen, I thank you for your thoughtfulness on the earthquake disaster. In Japan, people are trying their best to rescue and support the victims. Your kind donation in support of their efforts is the utmost help we can offer from outside the country.

The following are ways to donate to aid the victims of the Japan Earthquake and Tsunami.

1. American Red Cross (Donate through American RC will be sent to the Japanese Red Cross Society)
2. Japanese Medical Association in America
3. The Mayor’s Fund to Advance New York City – Japan Earthquake and Tsunami Fund

Up to date information about the Japan Earthquake and Tsunami may be found on the following websites: Google Crisis Responses: 2011 Japanese Earthquake and Tsunami & NHK World (English) 

Again, thank you very much for your help. Knowing such warm thoughtfulness from people so far away will encourage people of Japan to thrive and fight in this difficult time.

Sincerely,

Yuka Lawrence, LCSW

Illustration by Artemis Wilde

I found out today that a character from my short story, “Reasonable Terms,” has several pages on facebook and over 23,000 followers (far, far more than me). “Reasonable Terms” is about a group of giraffes who go on strike and stage a group mock suicide at a zoo. One of those giraffes, Lulu, starts hallucinating and has dreams of flying around New York City, peering in windows. The story appeared in my collection, Animal Crackers, and apparently was recently used in a standardized test for New Jersey high schoolers. The students had a strong reaction to the story, created facebook and twitter pages for Lulu, uploaded photographs, and even made their own psychedelic posters with catch phrases. So I guess the story struck a chord, or at least made them laugh (hopefully it did not inspire drug use). The strange thing was stumbling over this news in an online article, and realizing that a character I had dreamed up years ago was off having a whole new life that I knew nothing about. But I’m glad to hear that Lulu is still out there somewhere, floating over the city.

Hello folks: I’m off grid again, working on the new book. Feel free to keep sending in your questions about The Good Thief. I’ll answer when I get back in December.

The Good Thief is #20 on this week’s Indie Bestseller List!

The Good Thief was featured on KUSI-TV San Diego. Skip ahead to the 3:40 mark to see the segment on Hannah!

It’s hard to believe that a year has already passed since the hardback was published. I was in New Zealand in August 2008, and I remember feeling strange but also relieved that I was so far from home. The novel I’d been working on for the past six years was finally out, and I was full of joy but also anxiety and fear: would anyone buy it? I went for a walk on the beach in Paihia. And what did I find there, on the opposite end of the world? Wishing stones.

For those of you who don’t know what a wishing stone is, and how important they figure in The Good Thief, I suggest checking out the Q&A for the book. But if you’re familiar with The Good Thief, you can understand how appropriate and magical this moment was, even though these rocks were very different from the soft gray stones I collected as a child on the coast of New England. They were charcoal black and more like jagged pieces of slate–but the bright white line was circling them, all the same. I was extraordinarily grateful, sitting there with those wishing stones. I took their discovery as a sign of good things to come.

And come they did. The Good Thief has found an enthusiastic audience, and for that I am extremely thankful. Over the past year I’ve met readers in bookstores, at schools and colleges, at festivals, conferences, online book forums, libraries, continuing education programs and book clubs. Through this extraordinary novel (that I wrote sitting alone in my apartment), I have connected with people across the country and made many new friends. Now that The Good Thief is out in paperback, I’m hoping Ren’s story reaches an even wider audience. So hello to everyone who is visiting this site for the first time. Welcome! And thank you for turning the pages.

The Good Thief has won a 2009 American Library Association Alex Award.