Let me be clear about one thing: “The Blue Bird” is not my original story.
Maurice Maeterlinck, a Belgian playwright,
wrote “The Blue Bird” in 1908. This story is well-known in Europe (and in Japan), but not in North America. Hence, I only retold the story to introduce it to the
North American audience.
For those of you who have read “The
Blue Bird of Happiness” that is published under S.M. Shigemitsu (now available
on Amazon) will read in the author’s note why I created the retelling. For
those who have not yet read the book, here is the detailed reason.
I first encountered “The Blue Bird”
as a child. It was a beautifully illustrated children’s book written in
Japanese. Since then I have encountered other versions of Maeterlinck’s tale:
as a manga comic, a script, a storybook, but none in English! Much later, I
searched for an English translation of the story and found one (this was in 2010’s)
in a local public library—a picture book in English. Even on Amazon back then,
there were few available translations (now, there are more available).
Because this story had left such an
impression on me, I wrote it—first as a fanfiction with the lead characters
being teenagers rather than the young children they were as in the original.
After that, I left it on the shelf. Then, years later, I picked it up and
rewrote my version again during the COVID pandemic. During the pandemic, I met
a writing coach and mentor who encouraged me to self-publish the story. Soon everything
fell into place, and I released the book on Amazon in November 2022.
“So why did you decide to write it?”
you ask.
During the pandemic, the question “what
is happiness?” came to mind. Though happiness is relative and varies from
person to person, for me I found that happiness is something you experience in
the moment and found close to you. As I created this retelling, I found I was
content with my life during the pandemic. Throughout the pandemic, my basic
needs met, including a job I worked remotely, a roof over my head, clothes to
wear, and meals I shared with my family.
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