Japan’s Toyo Shibata was 92 when she started writing poetry. Her self-published anthology, “Kujikenaide,” (Don’t Lose Heart) has sold 1.5 million copies in Japan since its publication in 2009. With sales like that, I’m sure American publishers will take note. Now that her story has been published in Reuters and is being picked up by mainstream media around the world, I’m hopeful that it’s only a matter of time before her book hits the shelves in the U.S. I definitely plan to be in line to buy it.
For more information, here’s “A Little Encouragement” from the blog, From Tokyo to the World.