About

Motoko Oshino Matthews

押野素子（おしのもとこ）東京都出身。青山学院大学国際政治経済学部卒。レコード会社勤務を経て、黒人大学で知られるハワード大学ジャーナリズム学部に留学。特待生として理事会から全額奨学金を得て、最優等で卒業。主に黒人文化・歴史に関するフィクション＆ノンフィクションを翻訳している。訳書『フライデー・ブラック』（ナナ・クワメ・ナナ・クワメ・アジェイ=ブレニヤー著）は、2021年日本翻訳大賞最終候補に。ワシントンDC／メリーランド州プリンスジョージズ郡在住。

Birthplace: Sumida-ku, Tokyo, Japan. I’m a 70’s Baby.

My Very First Job: Worked for Toshiba-EMI (EMI/Virgin Records) as a liaison and promoter in Tokyo in mid-90’s.

Favorite Books: Claude Brown’s Manchild in the Promised Land, Langston Hughes’ Mr. Simple series, and Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God. These are the books that got me to quit my job at the record company and to attend Howard University in 1998.

Education: BA in Journalism from Howard University (Summa Cum Laude, recipient of the Trustees Scholarship)

Work: Translated numerous (cannot count…) album lyrics for R&B and hip-hop artists including Beyonce and Rihanna. Transitioned into book translation in 2004 after winning a series of translation competitions hosted by TranNet. Translated about 40 books into Japanese.

Award: Selected as one of the 5 finalists for the Japan Translation Award for the translation work of Friday Black (by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah) in 2021.

Residence: Washington DC/PG County, MD