One thing about curating this page and the mailing list that preceded it that has been interesting for me is learning about the wide range of pursuits that members of the Kumamoto International community are engaged in. Naturally, many native speakers of English are involved in language teaching, but the range of occupations and avocations extends way beyond that: Agriculture, sword making, mortuary science, music (both performing and teaching), athletics (competitive paragliding), and publishing are just a few that come to mind.
In regard to that last category, writing books, the work of Seán Michael Wilson has been introduced on this page several times in the past:
https://www.facebook.com/Kumamotoi/photos/a.129499733790134/1361220970617998/?type=3
In this post, I’d like to introduce another local author who has recently agreed to become a Kumamoto International editor: Tristan Vick. The Chronicles of Jegra (see link) is just the most recent of an astounding number of publications on Tristan’s Amazon page. Many of his books are fiction but Tristan is also a non-fiction author who has written and edited books about atheism and other topics.
For people like me in academia, a certain amount of publication is mandatory. Since a number of the participants in this page work at local universities, it’s no surprise that a complete list of publications by local authors who are also Kumamoto International participants would be fairly long. I think it’s interesting, though, that there are also people in town who are doing impressive amounts of writing and publishing outside of academic venues.
In this post, I mentioned Tristan and Sean, but I didn’t intend to slight any other local author who is also deserving of mention. So, if you could help me out by mentioning such an author (self-nomination is welcome) in a comment, I would appreciate it.
– Kirk
