Ornella Civardi has translated and edited the works of celebrated Japanese writers and poets, such as Yukio Mishima, Yasunari Kawabata, Junzaburo Nishiwaki and Yoko Ogawa. She has a degree in Oriental Languages and Literature from the Ca' Foscari University of Venice, with her thesis focused on Japanese literature. In 2005 she won a prestigious award, the Alcantara Prize, for her translation of Kawabata's Racconti in un palmo di mano (Palm-of-the-Hand Stories). Gavin Blair has spent nearly two decades as a writer and journalist in Japan. He covers the Japanese entertainment industry for The Christian Science Monitor and The Hollywood Reporter, and reports on Japan for France 24 TV, CBC/Radio-Canada, Al Jazeera, BBC Radio and several other media outlets. He authored Giappone - La vita in zen (Zen in Japanese Culture) (NuiNui)--a visual journey through Zen's influence on all aspects of Japanese life. Ayano Otani is a Japanese artist and author. She has exhibited her works in pencil, watercolor and paper creations throughout Asia and Europe and has also collaborated with several European fashion designers. With NuiNui she published I Bakedanuki e i fantasmi giapponesi (The Bakedanuki and the Japanese Ghosts), a fairy tale inspired by Japanese folklore.