Book launchMonday 19 February 2018
6:00pm – 7:00pm
LIV
Drinks reception from 7:00pm
13/14 Cornwall Terrace, Outer Circle (entrance facing Regent's Park), London NW1 4QP
Organised by the Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation
By Roger Pulvers
Published by Balestier Press
In this event, Roger Pulvers spoke about “LIV”, as well as his previous novel, “Star Sand”, and showed parts of the film “Star Sand” that was released in Japan last year.
Liv Grimstad is riding on a suburban train in Sydney, Australia in 1975 when she takes notice of the old man sitting opposite her. Though his features are different, she recognizes that man by the piercing look in his cornflower-blue eyes. She is convinced it is Donald Meissner, the man who has haunted her memory since they both worked at the German Embassy in Tokyo during the war. He was the beast who tormented and persecuted people, sending them into the hands of the Japanese Military Police. She does not confront him at first but rather sets out on a journey of detective work to uncover this man.
“LIV” is a personal detective story and thrilling historical mystery set in Australia in 1975 and Tokyo in 1945. But it tells a universal tale about how the past bears on our present … and future.
More information on the book is available here.
LIV was on sale during the evening for £10 (RRP £13.99).
About the contributors
Roger Pulvers
Roger Pulvers is an author, playwright, theatre director, and translator. He has published more than 50 books in Japanese and English, including novels, essays, plays, and poetry. Working as assistant to director Nagisa Oshima on “Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence” and befriending David Bowie brought him back to Japan and inspired him to become the award-winning playwright, film director and prolific author he is today. His most recent novel, Hoshizuna Monogatari (Star Sand), which he wrote in Japanese, was published by Kodansha, Japan’s largest publisher, in 2015 and subsequently in English and French in 2016 and 2017 respectively. It was released as a film, directed by him, in 2017.