The Pillow Book of SEI Shonagon The Diary of a Courtesan in Tenth Century Japan

Arthur Waley (1889-1966) taught himself Chinese and Japanese after being appointed Assistant Keeper of Oriental Prints and Manuscripts at the British Museum to help catalog the paintings in the museum's collection. He went on to renown as one of the most respected translators of Asian classics into English of his time. His long list of translated works includes The Tale of Genji, Monkey (The Journey to the West), The Noh Plays of Japan and The Analects of Confucius.

Dennis Washburn is Professor of Asian and Middle Eastern Languages and Literatures and Comparative Literature at Dartmouth College. He is the author of Translating Mount Fuji: Modern Japanese Fiction and the Ethics of Identity and translator of Temple of the Wild Geese and Bamboo Dolls of Echizen.