Tonight in Berkeley, Donald Richie comes all the way from Tokyo to talk about his life in Japanese film and the arts in general. He’ll be chatting onstage with Telluride Film Fest co-founder Tom Luddy. The event is being put on by Berkeley Arts & Letters. I’ve been looking forward to meeting Donald since I began working at Stone Bridge Press some years ago. Whether scribbling about the Inland Sea, Truman Capote’s mysterious visit to Japan, or sensual divinities (in Erotic Gods: Phallicism in Japan), his writing is both authoritative and deeply personal. Susan Sontag wrote that “his lateral view opens up fresh perspectives on many human gestures and ways of doing art and society.” In the East Bay Express, Anneli Rufus has a nice take on Donald, as a prelude to the event; in the San Francisco Bay Guardian, Johnny Ray Huston also has a thing or two to say. Want a preview of Donald’s voice? Check out this curious 2005 interview with Michael Krasny.
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