Q&A With Lynne Kutsukake

I’m so glad to begin the year 2025 with the author of the novels The Translation of Love & The Art Of Vanishing Lynne Kutsukake! 

Q: Lynne, would you please give a brief description of The Translation of Love & The Art Of Vanishing? What drew you into writing?

A: The Translation of Love is set in Tokyo right after the end of the war when Japan was under American occupation. It tells the story of a friendship between two middle-school-age girls: Aya, a Japanese Canadian girl who was deported to Japan from Canada, and Fumi who wants Aya’s help in writing a letter in English. Fumi is desperate to find her older sister who has gone missing in the bar district of Ginza. She comes up with the wild idea that she should send a letter directly to General MacArthur asking for his help. 

The Art of Vanishing is set in Japan in the 1970s. Two college-age Japanese women are seeking creative expression in very different ways: Akemi is studying to become a medical illustrator and Sayako wants to become a painter, specifically a portrait artist. Sayako asks Akemi to pose as her model. Along the way, though, Sayako falls under the spell of an older couple who claim to be avant-garde artists who can elevate her creativity to a new level. Akemi is dropped when Sayako decides to follow the couple. While The Art of Vanishing is not a sequel to my first novel, it also focuses on the theme of female friendship, which is a particular interest of mine. In this case, though, because the characters are older, the friendship is much more intense, complicated and fraught. There are elements of obsession and jealousy and competition and delusion. 

What drew me into writing is the opportunity to create whole worlds and to inhabit other lives through my characters. As Ann Tyler once said, “I write because I want more than one life.” I love that sentiment. 

Q: Would it be fair to say the characters from both The Translation of Love & The Art Of Vanishing are taken from bits and pieces of real people you know?

A: My characters are not based on any people I know personally, but I’m happy that they feel like they could be actual people and that their character traits might come from real people. For the most part they come from my imagination based on what I’d absorbed through my research and reading. One of the great joys in writing fiction is imagining characters and the huge challenge is then trying to make them feel as real-to-life as possible. 

Q: What are important lessons you hope readers learn after reading The Translation of Love & The Art Of Vanishing & what emotions do you hope readers feel as they read and after they finish the books?

A: I hope that readers learn something interesting about Japan that they didn’t know before for instance, about life in the immediate aftermath of defeat in postwar Japan or about the fascinating period of the 1970s and avant-garde art. In The Translation of Love people might draw lessons about the importance of resilience and hope. In The Art of Vanishing there are lessons about friendship and love but also the dangers of self-delusion. I hope that readers come away feeling empathy for my characters, and ultimately a sense of our shared humanity across time and place.

Q: Can you reveal any details about the next novel you are writing now? 

A: I have some ideas percolating, but it’s too early to talk about anything yet. The only thing I feel sure of is that it will be set in Japan, which is a place that seems to be a source of endless inspiration to me. 

Q: How do you deal with self-doubt, negative reviews, online trolls & unsupportive family and friends who don’t support your writing goals?

A: Dealing with self-doubt and negative criticism is part of any creative endeavor. It happens in any artistic field, whether it be writing or visual art or music or performance and so forth. It’s essential to just push through and to keep moving forward. I find the best way to overcome self-doubt is to keep working and to lose myself in a new project. 

Q: In your opinion, what makes a perfect story that might help future writers out there write their own?

A: I don’t think there is a template for a “perfect” story. While there are many rules of craft and technique which can help enormously as guides when you are starting out, the most important element of a good story is that it comes from the heart of the individual writer. So in that sense, there are no “perfect” stories; there are only unique, individual stories. It’s been said many times, but I think the best advice and encouragement is to write the story you want to read. Along the way, you will find that you are writing a story that only you can tell. 

Q: If/When Hollywood were to get the rights to your work, who would be your dream cast to play the characters in the film or tv series versions of The Translation of Love & The Art Of Vanishing?

A: Oh, wouldn’t that be wonderful! I can’t think of anyone in particular but I believe that my novels would provide a great casting opportunity for the growing number of superb Asian American, Asian Canadian, and Japanese actors. Well, as long as we’re dreaming, wouldn’t it be terrific if Anna Sawai (of Shogun fame) was interested in playing Sayako in The Art of Vanishing!