Yuko Tsushima (1947-2016) is considered one of the most important Japanese writers of her generation. She is best known for her novel Mountain of Fire and her short-story collection The Shooting Gallery. Much of her work is influenced by the oral epics and tales of pre-modern Japan, as well as her own experience as a single mother. Her father was the famous Japanese writer Osamu Dazai, who committed suicide when Tsushima was only a year old. Her work has been translated into over a dozen languages. Her novel Woman Running in the Mountains is published by NYRB Classics.

Dennis Washburn is an American academic and translator. He is the Jane and Raphael Bernstein Professor of Asian Studies at Dartmouth College where he has taught since 1992.