Holly Thompson (www.hatbooks.com) is a longtime resident of Japan. She is the author of the novel Ash and three verse novels for young people: Falling into the Dragon’s Mouth, The Language Inside, and Orchards, winner of the Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature. She is also author of the picture books Twilight Chant, One Wave at a Time and The Wakame Gatherers, and she compiled and edited Tomo: Friendship Through Fiction—An Anthology of Japan Teen Stories, a collection of 36 Japan-related short stories, including ten in translation. She writes frequently on Japanese culture and is a columnist for the ANA inflight magazine Wingspan. A graduate of the NYU Creative Writing Program, she writes poetry, fiction and nonfiction for children, teens and adults, serves as Co-Regional Advisor of SCBWI Japan (Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators), and teaches writing at Yokohama City University, GrubStreet, and UC Berkeley Extension.