Some 87 years ago, Japanese American writer Shōson Nagahara serialized a novel, A Tale of Osato, in the pages of the Rafu Shimpo—a Japanese American newspaper, which first started in Little Tokyo back in 1903. Now, for the first time ever, Nagahara’s collected writings have been translated into English and published by Kaya Press: Lament in […]

Asian American book critic extraordinaire Terry Hong did an in-depth interview with Kaya Press Publisher Sunyoung Lee, featured in the latest issue of Bookslut. Along with detailing Kaya’s past and Lee’s long-time involvement, the piece talks about Kaya’s present life at the University of Southern California and all the exciting new books we have coming […]

Some 87 years after Shōson Nagahara’s gritty stories of survival were published in Los Angeles’ Little Tokyo for a Japanese immigrant readership, Kaya Press brings you the first-ever English translation of these forgotten novellas: Lament in the Night, translated by Andrew Leong. Along with Nagahara’s writing, the book features dozens of archival photographs documenting Little […]

Now on the Kaya Press Smoking Hot Bookshelves is our newest title: Lament In The Night by Shoson Nagahara (Translated by Andrew Leong). A collection of two novellas originally published in 1920s Los Angeles, both stories are evocative of their age. Complete with the sex, gambling, and alcohol that have become synonymous with the time, […]

Kaya Press is honored to be part of the Indie Shelves Initiative at Downtown L.A.’s The Last Bookstore, which launches this Saturday Nov. 3rd at 3 p.m. The Initiative creates dedicated shelf space for L.A. authors and independent publishing houses. We were chosen by local literary connector Mike the Poet, and our shelf will feature […]