On the first weekend of November, dozens of poets, novelists, translators and other literary aspirants descended on Futaba, Fukushima Prefecture, bringing an international presence to a quiet coastal town on the rebound.

This year marked the 18th edition of the (JWC) and only the second fully in-person event since the COVID-19 pandemic. Across more than two dozen sessions over a day and a half, presenters and attendees grappled with a range of professional and aesthetic concerns in the domain of English-language writing.

Held in partnership with the , this year’s program took place in a town still vying to reinvent itself in the aftermath of the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake. (The Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant is located between Futaba and neighboring Okuma and is still in the lengthy process of decommissioning.)