NEW YORK - Kanako Nishi, a seasoned Japanese author and winner of the prestigious Naoki literary award, recently saw one of her books published in English translation for the first time, marking the end of a long wait given her stature and the growing popularity of Japanese fiction worldwide.

The translation of "Sakura," a novel centered on a family coping with a painful past and their adoption of the titular dog, named for the Japanese word meaning cherry trees or cherry blossoms, comes more than 20 years after the release of the original.