Team

Meet the volunteers who make it happen!

Patrick Parr

HEAD ORGANIZER. Patrick is the author of three books, most recently Malcolm Before X (University of Massachusetts Press, 2024). He’s lived with his wife near Tokyo for many years and has written for The Guardian, Politico, and The Atlantic, among others. He loves the art of biography, screenwriting, and plays tennis whenever there’s time. He is a professor at Lakeland University Japan.

Swastika Jajoo

CO-ORGANIZER. Swastika works as Manager for Fukushima Seaside, Japan and is simultaneously pursuing her PhD in Linguistics at Tohoku University. She has previously been an Editorial Resident for The Seventh Wave, and has published her poetry in Eunoia Review, Mudroom and Parentheses Journal among others. She has been nominated for Best of Net and Pushcart Prizes, and loves few things as much as she loves chai and Curious George.

Iain Maloney

CO-ORGANIZER. Iain is the author of nine books, including the critically acclaimed The Only Gaijin in the Village (Birlinn, 2020), a memoir about his life in rural Japan. He is also a university lecturer, editor, and journalist. He was born and raised in Aberdeen, Scotland and currently lives in Gifu, Japan. In addition he is the lead guitarist of the band Red Flag Waltz. More at www.iainmaloney.substack.com

Patrick Han

WEBMASTER. Patrick is a freelance science writer, web designer, and fiction writer. He was born in Taiwan; grew up in southern France and then in northern Germany; and holds a Ph.D. in chemistry from Penn State. He currently lives in Fukushima prefecture.

Debonair Marc Antomattei

SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGER. Marc is an artist and writer/publisher of avant-garde-style books. He’s a lover of fine things, sartorial things, mechanical watches, alcoholic spirits, art, design, and photography, and he’s now the official photographer for the Japan Writers Conference.

Kartika Lestari

EMAIL MARKETING ADMIN. Kartika served as the JWC lead organizer in 2023-2025. She was born and grew up in Indonesia, then pursued a PhD in geophysics at Tohoku University, Japan. She was a full-time lecturer and climate research scientist for 23 years, working in Indonesia, Japan, Singapore, and South Korea. Since 2021, she has dedicated more time for writing nonfiction, some of which has appeared in online magazines. In 2025, she enrolled in UCLA Extension Writing Course to help craft her ongoing memoir. She now also runs businesses in Japan with her spouse.

Ariel Tabak

DINNER COORDINATOR. Ariel grew up in the American midwest as one of the few African American, neurodivergent, LGBTQIA+ individuals in their community and took to creativity as a lifeline of joy in the face of isolation. As a child, they regularly won awards for their poetry and performed their musical compositions publicly. They started writing novels in 2013 when a poetic translation of Euripides’ Medea for their graduate thesis turned into a full novel draft. They’ve been hooked on writing novels ever since. They are excited to join the JWC team in 2025 and meet other writers and creatives!

John Gribble

ADVISOR (Retired co-organizer). John is a poet and writer on music and other topics. A native of Southern California, he has lived in Tokyo since 1993. His work appears internationally and his books include 100 Poets, One Song Each (a translation of The Ogura Hyakunin Isshu of Fujiwara no Teika), Ueno Mornings and Another Wrong Fedora. He has been involved with the JWC since the first conference in 2007 and served as co-organizer from 2009 to 2023. Since 2024, he has kindly helped the team as an advisor.

LEAD ORGANIZER

Patrick is the author of three books, most recently Malcolm Before X (University of Massachusetts Press, 2024). He’s lived with his wife near Tokyo for many years and has written for The Guardian, Politico, and The Atlantic, among others. He loves the art of biography, screenwriting, and plays tennis whenever there’s time. He is a professor at Lakeland University Japan.

CO-ORGANIZER

Swastika works as Manager for Fukushima Seaside, Japan and is simultaneously pursuing her PhD in Linguistics at Tohoku University. She has previously been an Editorial Resident for The Seventh Wave, and has published her poetry in Eunoia Review, Mudroom and Parentheses Journal among others. She has been nominated for Best of Net and Pushcart Prizes, and loves few things as much as she loves chai and Curious George.

CO-ORGANIZER

Iain is the author of nine books, including the critically acclaimed The Only Gaijin in the Village (Birlinn, 2020), a memoir about his life in rural Japan. He is also a university lecturer, editor, and journalist. He was born and raised in Aberdeen, Scotland and currently lives in Gifu, Japan. In addition he is the lead guitarist of the band Red Flag Waltz. More at www.iainmaloney.substack.com

WEBMASTER

Patrick is a free-lance science writer and editor, who is currently involved with a project intersecting blog design, data visualization, and kakenhi application. He is the web design specialist at JWC. He was born in Taiwan; grew up in southern France and then in northern Germany; and holds a Ph.D. in chemistry from Penn State. He currently lives in Fukushima prefecture and dreams of writing fiction that is worthwhile someday.

SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGER

Marc is an artist and writer/publisher of avant-garde-style books. He’s a lover of fine things, sartorial things, mechanical watches, alcoholic spirits, art, design, and photography, and he’s now the official photographer for the Japan Writers Conference.

EMAIL MARKETING ADMIN

Kartika served as the JWC lead organizer in 2023-2025. She was born and grew up in Indonesia, then pursued a PhD in geophysics at Tohoku University, Japan. She was a full-time lecturer and climate research scientist for 23 years, working in Indonesia, Japan, Singapore, and South Korea. Since 2021, she has dedicated more time for writing nonfiction, some of which has appeared in online magazines. In 2025, she enrolled in UCLA Extension Writing Course to help craft her ongoing memoir. She now also runs businesses in Japan with her spouse.

DINNER COORDINATOR

Ariel grew up in the American midwest as one of the few African American, neurodivergent, LGBTQIA+ individuals in their community and took to creativity as a lifeline of joy in the face of isolation. As a child, they regularly won awards for their poetry and performed their musical compositions publicly. They started writing novels in 2013 when a poetic translation of Euripides’ Medea for their graduate thesis turned into a full novel draft. They’ve been hooked on writing novels ever since. They are excited to join the JWC team in 2025 and meet other writers and creatives!

ADVISOR (Retired Co-Organizer).

John is a poet and writer on music and other topics. A native of Southern California, he has lived in Tokyo since 1993. His work appears internationally and his books include 100 Poets, One Song Each (a translation of The Ogura Hyakunin Isshu of Fujiwara no Teika), Ueno Mornings and Another Wrong Fedora. He has been involved with the JWC since the first conference in 2007 and served as co-organizer from 2009 to 2023. Since 2024, he has kindly helped the team as an advisor.