Michio Mado

Born in Tokuyama, Japan, children’s poet Michio Mado lived with his grandfather for five years after his parents and siblings moved to Taiwan. He later joined his family in Taiwan and spent the next 27 years in that country as a student and an engineer.

Mado’s compact poems often take on unexpected perspectives and are at once playful and curious. His poetry books for children include Tempura piripiri (1968, illustrated by Yutaka Sugita), Zo-san (1979, illustrated by Soya Nakagawa), Kuma-san (1989), Dobutsutachi/The Animals (1992, a bilingual edition translated into English by Empress Michiko and illustrated by Mitsumasa Anno), and its companion, The Magic Pocket: Selected Poems (1998, illustrated by Mitsumasa Anno and translated by Empress Michiko).
 
Mado Michio Zenshishu (1993) gathers Mado’s complete poems, and Tooi tokoro (2003) combines the poet’s paintings with his verse. His poetry is also included in Masters of Modern Japanese Poetry: Six Distinctive Voices of the Postwar Era (1999). Mado’s honors include the Hans Christian Andersen Award.