ABOUT

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Naoko Fujimoto was born and raised in Nagoya, Japan. She is a poet and translator. Her poetry collections are "We Face The Tremendous Meat On The Teppan", winner of C&R Press Summer Tide Pool Chapbook Award by C&R Press (2022), "Where I Was Born", winner of the editor's choice by Willow Books (2019), "Glyph:Graphic Poetry=Trans. Sensory" by Tupelo Press (2021), and four chapbooks. She is a RHINO associate & translation editor and Tupelo Quarterly translation editor. She is a Bread Loaf Translation full scholarship recipient and the 2023 Visiting Teaching Artist at the Poetry Foundation. Her first translation chapbook is available from Toad Press in the fall of 2024. Her full-length translation collection, "of Women", is forthcoming from Tupelo Press.

welcome letter

*Please note: Naoko Fujimoto does not have X-Twitter & Facebook.
*Her Working On Gallery has an Instagram account.

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Rome, 2023

Published Works

Recent work appears or is forthcoming in:

Tupelo Press, June 2026
"of Women"

Bull City Press​, July 2026
Reissue: "Mother Said, I Want Your Pain" - Chapbook - Backbone Press, Winner of the Shared Dream Immigrant Contest

Bloomsbury Publishing, Forthcoming
Writer's Guide to Multimodal Poetry: Mixtures and Margins, Edited by Ben Gunsberg and C.R. Grimmer

Brill Publishing, Forthcoming
Journal of Literary Multilingualism
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​​​*RHINO Reads Curator
​*RHINO Reviews & TUPELO Quarterly Interview Contributor
*Working on Gallery Coordinator

Bibliotheca Alexandrina, 2025

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2025
​Asymptote

• trans.sensory and trans-vocal: Naoko Fujimoto and Danielle Pieratti in Conversation
  

Consequence

• Poem - "Generational Scars"​

Toad Press, Pasadena, 2025

2024
The Toad Press International Chapbook Series​

• "09/09 : Nine Japanese Female Poets / Nine Heian Waka"
  

Circumference

• Waka Translation - Nukata no Ōkimi - Man’yōshū, No.4 – 488
• Waka Translation - Nukata no Ōkimi - Man'yōshū, No.1 - 8​

Faultline

• Waka Translation - Prince Motoyoshi (元良親王), 百人一首 No.20​

The Nature of Our Times

• Poem - Too Short

​Illinois Emerging Writers Competition

• Gwendolyn Brooks Poetry Award - Judge
• Final Judge - Illinois Poet Laureate​

Lewis University Art Gallery, 2024

2023
Rose Metal Press - Essay Contributor

• The Rose Metal Press Field Guide to Graphic Literature: Artists and Writers on Creating Graphic Narratives, Poetry Comics, and Literary Collage - Editors, Kelcey Parker Ervick and Tom Hart​

​Big Shoulders DePaul University

• Poem - The Piano

​Cable Street Issue 3

• Poem - "Hyperbolic Doorbells"

Cable Street Issue 4

• Waka Translation - Sei Shōnagon
• Waka Translation - Fujiwara no Teishi

Diode Editions - Anthology

• Poem - "Beneath the Sand"

Literatur Outdoors (Vienna, Austria)

• Poem - Give Peace A Chance - akrostichon for peace
• Essay - 5 Fragen an KünstlerInnen zur Gegenwart

Tintjournal

• Poem - "Three Chairs"​

Illinois Emerging Writers Competition

• Gwendolyn Brooks Poetry Award - Judge
• Final Judge - Illinois Poet Laureate

Versofrontera Literature & Arts Festival, San Antonio, 2023.

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Selected Recent Online Events​​​

• Radio Helsinki (October 2023)
• The Hugh C. Hyde Living Writers Series (April 2023)
• Sarabande's⚡ZINE LUNCH!⚡ presents “Create a Graphic Waka Poem! (January 2023)

WBEZ91.5 Chicago’s NPR station, 2022. Photo by Lauren Frost

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​​2022
C&R Press Summer Tide Pool Chapbook Award
"We Face The Tremendous Meat On The Teppan"

​Asian American Writers' Workshop - The Margins

• 百人一首英訳 - Translation waka-poems​

North American Review Open Space

• Essay about Graphic Poetry

National Poetry Month Postcard Project by Luisa A. Igloria, the Poet Laureate of Virginia

• April 27, 2022

Wherever I’m At: An Anthology of Chicago Poetry

• Contributor

Tupelo Quarterly No. 27

• “Leaving Any Cultural Differences Untouched”: A Conversation with Tana Oshima & A Translation Process – curated by Naoko Fujimoto

Backbone Press

• Website illustrations

Illinois Emerging Writers Competition

• Gwendolyn Brooks Poetry Award - Judge
• Final Judge - Illinois Poet Laureate

The 2023 Twin Cities Book Festival with Kelcey Parker Ervick and David Dodd Lee

​2021
Tupelo Press (2021)

• "Glyph:Graphic Poetry=Trans. Sensory" - Book

The Arkansas International

• 百人一首英訳 - Translation waka-poems ​

Columbia Journal

• 百人一首英訳 - Translation waka-poems
• Graphic Translations

Crazyhorse Issue 99

• 百人一首英訳 - Translation waka-poems

Kyoto Journal Issue 99

• 百人一首英訳 - Translation waka-poems

North American Review

• Graphic Poem - "Offshore of Rikuzen Takata" ​​

Zocalo Public Square

• Graphic Poem - "Sakura, Sakura on the Radio"

Favorite Poem Project

• Graphic Poem At the Table​

Good River Review Spalding University

• Poem - "This Is About Time" and "The Horse" (Nominated for the 2022 Pushcart Priz)

The Inflectionist Review

• Book Review - "Corner Shrine" by Chloe Martinez

Zone 3

• Poem - "Eczema"

The Indianapolis Review

• Essay - Reflections on The Paintings of Minami Kobayashi

RHINO Poetry Review

• Review Contributor

Illinois Emerging Writers Competition

• Gwendolyn Brooks Poetry Award - Judge
• Final Judge - Illinois Poet Laureate

Tint Journal (Austria) / Worte sind Wege (Germany), 2023

2020
Hayden's Ferry Review

• Poem - "Why I Didn’t Know"

North American Review

• Graphic Poem - "Protest Against" ​​

American Gun: A Poem by 100 Chicagoans

• Contributor, book-length pantoum about gun violence in Chicago​

The Indianapolis Review

• Graphic Poem - "Spaceflight Sonata P.2"

underbelly

• Essay - Process of shepherding a poem​

Action, Spectacle

• Graphic Poem - "Unlasted Improvisation", "Childhood Advance"

The Rupture

• Poem - "Fellow Walker" (Nominated for the 2021 Pushcart Priz)

​Poem of the Week

• Poem - “Thursdays,” “The Coldest Day is for Beans,” and “In Lawrenceville; Honeymoon”​

RHINO Poetry Review

• Review Contributor

Poetry Foundation at Chicago Printers Row Lit Festival, 2022 – RHINO Poetry – Readings by April Gibson, Kathleen Rooney, Jessica Walsh, E. Hughes, Faisal Mohyuddin, Kenyatta Rogers, Jacob Saenz, Maja Teref & Steven Teref. Emceed by Naoko Fujimoto and Elizabeth O-Connell Thompson.

​2019
POETRY

• Graphic Poem - "Lake Michigan"

The Kenyon Review

• Poem - "Low Orbit"

Quarterly West

• Poem - "According to Father I Can Meet My Daughter Again"

The Seattle Review

• Poem - "Spaceflight Sonata vol.1 and 2"

Tokyo Poetry Journal

• Poem - "Millennial's Father"​

Willow Books

• "Where I was Born" - Poetry Book

PANK

• Poem - "How to Make Shooting Stars"

Diode Poetry Journal

• Poem - "Beneath the Sand"

The Indianapolis Review

• Graphic Poem - "Spaceflight Sonata P"

​RHINO Poetry Review

• Review Contributor​

The Betsy Hotel, Miami, 2021. Photo by Angela Narciso Torres

2018
Tupelo Quarterly

• Graphic Poem - "More than Fourteen Days", "August Marble", and "There Are Plenty"​

Backbone Press 

• "Mother Said, I Want Your Pain" - Chapbook - Winner of the Shared Dream Immigrant Contest

Salem State University Soundings East

• Poem - "Giant Red Rubber Band"

Glass: A Journal of Poetry

• Graphic Poem - "How to Choke Myself in the Ugly Kitchen"
• Graphic Poem - "From an Apartment"

North American Review (at Blackhawk Hotel), Cedar Falls, 2021

2017
Cream City Review

• Poem - "A Big Bowl of Beef Stew"

RHINO

• Poem - "Enough is Never"

Tupelo Quarterly

• Graphic Poem - "Dividing," "Requiem From an Office 7,000 Miles Away," "Draw the Light," "Kapok Tree" and "White Avenue"

Glass Lyre Press

• "Silver Seasons of Heartache" - Chapbook Series

Five Oaks Press

• Rachel Custer's "The Temple She Became" (Cover Art)

Jet Fuel Review

• Graphic Poem - "The Sallie" and "July 2017, Skipping Stones"
• Poem - "First Marriage As If" and "Trainride to Another"

Homonym Journal (Berlin)

• Graphic Poem - "The Pay Phone"

Moria

• Poem - "Pochi or Kuro" and "There Were Plenty"

Drunk In A Midnight Choir

• Graphic Poem - "Mugwort's Leaves," "Home No Home" and "I See"​

POETRY Magazine’s seasonal party, 2019. Photo by Sherry Smith

2016
Cimarron Review

• Poem - "Spaghetti Harassment" and "The Explosion of Ivy Leaves"

Educe Press

• "Home, No Home" - Winner of Oro Fino Chapbook Competition

Pirene's Fountain

• Poem - "Clay Cup From a Chi Stand", "Through an Indian Brick Town", and "Cooking Beans on Kerosene-Oil Heaters"

OGGI Gallery, 2018

​​2015
Prairie Schooner

• Poem - "Mugwort's Leaves"

Prairie Schooner's Blog

• Essay - "Women and the Global Imagination"

The Cape Rock

• Poem - "Lunch Time Atlas"

Juked

• Poem - "How to Choke Myself in the Ugly Kitchen"

Tupelo Press 30/30 Anthology

• Poem - "Unnatural Violence"

Pamplemousse

• Poem - "Today Is Not October 7th"

Construction Literature Magazine

• Poem - "Empty Shells in Vinegar"

Hawaii Pacific Review

• Poem - "The Passing Spring"

Nano Fiction

• Poem - "Laundry Girl"

The Birds We Piled Loosely

• Poem - "Helping My Father Dress", "A Pile of Pink", and "Happy 50th Birthday"

Woman Made Gallery, 2017

2013 
Prism Review

• Poem - "Carrying My 237 LBS in a Dance Studio" and "After the Laundry"

PMS poemmemoirstory

• Poem - "Electric Bills"

Berkeley Poetry Review 

• Poem - "Sixty Seven Years Later" (Nominated for the 2014 Pushcart Priz)​

Glass Lyre Press, 2016

2012
Hotel Amerika

• Poem - "As of Late"

Emerge Literary Journal

• Poem - "The Beach"

Anti-Poetry

• Poem - "My Father's Ivory Die"

2011 
Natural Bridge

• Poem - "Requiem From An Office 7,000 Miles Away" and Foreign / Grey"

Spillway

• Poem - "The First Night"

Unshod Quills

• Poem - "Tokyo Summer, 1993" and "Mother's Lips"

Alchemy Magazine of Literature & Art

• Poem - "7:30PM, RHAPSODY"

New Madrid Journal

• Poem - "Peel" and "In Lawrenceville; Honeymoon"

2010
Bayou

• Poem - "An Improvisation"

2009 
Passages North

• Poem - "A Pianist," "February," and "Eyelashes, Four"

Pebble Lake Review

• Poem - "Greenhouse"

Potomac Review

• Poem - "At a Station"

RUNE-the MIT

• Poem - "Natane Tsuyu" and "A Battery"

Gargoyle Magazine

• Poem - "Meadowsweet Koikokoro"

Big Scream

• Poem - "Distance" and "Grandmother"

Epiphany/a literary journal

• Poem - "White Avenue" and "Shigeru"

Cider Press Review

• Poem - "June Ink" (Nominated for the 2009 Pushcart Priz)

2008
Slipstream 

• Poem - "On the Beach"

Chiron Review

• Poem - "A Towel"

 Puerto del Sol

• Poem - "In the Morning" and "Before the Sunset"

Reviews & Interviews

Field Study

• Interviewed by Alessandra Simmons
  

Heavy Father Review

• Interviewed by Tiffany Troy

Jet Fuel Review

• Interviewed by JFR Editors

Kenyon Review

• Interviewed by KR Editors
  

Monkey Bicycle

• Reviewed by CL Bledsoe
  

Nano Fiction

• Interviewed by Nano Fiction
  

New York Magazine

• "Livelihoods of the Poets" By Rachel Friedman
  

Ploughshares

• Interviewed by Matthew Thorburn

So You Wanna Win a Book Prize?

• Interviewed by Katie Schmid Henson
  

The Chapbook Review

• ​Interviewed by Laura Madeline Wiseman

The Review Review

• Reviewed by Sarah Katz

Tupelo Quarterly

• Interviewed by Kristina Marie Darling
  

USF Lit Works

• Interviewed by Sara Cahill

5-9 Working Writers

• Interviewed by Alessandra Simmons​

Chicago, 2022

Residency, Awards, Panelists, and Finalists

2025

• ​Columbia University Guest Lecture
  
• The Chicago High School for the Arts Guest Lecture

2024

• AWP: Writers Making Comics and Collage: How Changing Mediums Changed Our Writing
• Lewis University Guest Poet

2023

• Sarabande Writing Labs - Zine Lunch!
• The Laurie Okuma Memorial Reading Spring 2023 Okuma Author
• The Bread Loaf Translators’ Conference Full Scholarship
• Twin Cities Book Festival Panelist
• Versofrontera Literature & Arts Festival San Antonio Guest Poet
• The 2023 Burnside Review Chapbook Contest - Finalist​
• The 2023 Visiting Teaching Artist at the Poetry Foundation

​2022

• AAPI Writers and Creatives: Reading and Panel
• Virginia Festival of the Book Panelist
• Vermont Studio Center Creative Imperative Session Speaker
• University of Chicago Laboratory Schools Speaker

2021

• SWWIM residency at The Betsy-South Beach
• North American Review Guest Poet
• University of St. Francis Writer's Conference Keynote Speaker

2020

• Anhinga Press Rick Campbell chapbook prize - Finalist
• Autumn House Press Chapbook Contest - Finalist
• Bull City Press Summer Chapbook Open Reading - Finalist

2019

• Diode Editions Full Length Book Contest - Finalist
• Diode Editions Chapbook Contest - Finalist
• Burnside Review Chapbook Contest - Finalist
• Anhinga-Robert Dana Prize - Finalist
• Cathexis Northwest Press Chapbook Contest - Finalist 

2018

• Akron Poetry Prize - Finalist
• Anhinga Press Rick Campbell chapbook prize - Finalist
• Autumn House Press Chapbook Contest - Finalist
• C&R Press Summer Tide Pool chapbook- Shortlist
• The Los Angeles Review - First Runner-Up

2017

• Indiana University South Bend Notable Recent Alumna Award
• John Ashbery’s HOME SCHOOL Poetry & Artist Residency in Los Angeles
• The Mineral Point Poetry Series - Finalist

2016

• The Tupelo Press Sunken Garden Chapbook Award - Finalist
• MASS MOCA (Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art Visiting Artist Supported by Tupelo Press

​2015

• The Kundiman Poetry Prize ​- Finalist

Photo by Gail Goepfert, 2022