Pim Wangtechawat is a writer from Bangkok, Thailand. Her writing has been published in various websites and literary journals, including the Mekong Review and the Nikkei Asian Review. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in English Literature from King’s College London, and graduated with Distinction from Edinburgh Napier University with a Masters in Creative Writing.
Her debut novel, The Moon Represents My Heart, was published by OneWorld Publications in 2023. The novel has been translated into several languages, including Thai, Spanish, Indonesian, and Italian. Actress Gemma Chan is attached to the screen adaptation.
She has given workshops and talks at many schools and universities around the world, including Chulalongkorn University and Hong Kong Adventist Academy. She also led a mentorship programme for young Thai writers. Her work and community involvement have been featured in Vogue Thailand.
Her second novel, I Dreamed of You, a romance set in Bangkok and Edinburgh, was published in March 2026.
Avery Fischer Udagawa is a literary translator and teacher based in Nonthaburi, Thailand. Her translations from Japanese include the middle grade historical novel J-Boys: Kazuo’s World, Tokyo, 1965 by Shogo Oketani and the Japan-based fantasy novels Temple Alley Summer, The House of the Lost on the Cape, and The Village Beyond the Mist by Sachiko Kashiwaba. Avery’s translation of the first novel in Kashiwaba’s high fantasy series When A Dragon Calls will be published in Fall 2027.
Temple Alley Summer won the American Library Association’s Mildred L. Batchelder Award and was named to the International Board on Books for Young People’s IBBY Honour List. In 2025, Kirkus Reviews selected Temple Alley Summer as one of the Best Books of the 21st Century (So Far).
The House of the Lost on the Cape was named a Batchelder Honor Book. The Village Beyond the Mist won the Foreword INDIE Book of the Year Award for Juvenile Fiction, and it was chosen for NPR’s Books We Love and the Libby & Sora Reads program in 2025. It appears with a Read Aloud designation in the 2026 Bank Street College of Education Best Children’s Books of the Year.
Avery has also translated the picture book Two Little Red Mittens by Kirin Hayashi, illustrated by Chiaki Okada; short fiction by Mogami Ippei for The Best Asian Short Stories 2018 and Kyoto Journal; and short fiction by Sachiko Kashiwaba for A Tapestry of Colours 1: Stories from Asia and Tomo: Friendship Through Fiction—An Anthology of Japan Teen Stories.
A longtime advocate for translators, Avery has taken part in efforts to require translator crediting on books eligible for the ALA Batchelder Award. She has also been involved in establishing the Pitch-Perfect Translation Grant and the Translation category of the Golden Kite Awards conferred by the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators. She serves as Global Translator Coordinator in SCBWI and was named 2024 Stephen Mooser Member of the Year.
Avery encourages librarians everywhere to check out World Kid Lit Wednesday/Weekend posts and special themed months at the Global Literature in Libraries blog. With Holly Thompson, Avery curated posts on Japan-born children’s and YA books on this blog throughout September 2026. Avery also invites everyone to explore global youth literature during World Kid Lit Month each September. Did you know the month now features an International Reading Award for schools?
Avery grew up in Kansas and studied English and Asian Studies at St. Olaf College in Minnesota. She holds an MA in Advanced Japanese Studies from The University of Sheffield. She has studied at Nanzan University, Nagoya, on a Fulbright Fellowship, and at the Inter-University Center for Japanese Language Studies in Yokohama. She teaches English as an Additional Language at MYIS International School near Bangkok, and is blessed to spend every day with multilingual learners and her bicultural family.