Tom Maschler, a legendary British editor who put 13 Nobel Prize-winning authors into print, will address audiences at two events set for March 18 and 20 in Tokyo.

Maschler is renowned as an editor who published works by many famous writers, including Bruce Chatwin, Gabriel Garcia-Marquez, Ian McEwan, Doris Lessing and Jeffrey Archer.

He is also known as one of the key figures responsible for founding the Booker Prize, Britain's leading literary award, in the late 1960s.

The two symposiums will cover issues surrounding novels and the book-publishing industry, asking such questions as "How do you create good books that sell?" and "How can Japanese literature attract more readers abroad?"

Maschler will deliver keynote speeches followed by panel discussions involving literature professors and writers. Jay Rubin, known as a translator of works by the famed Japanese author Haruki Murakami, will also join the symposium on March 20.

The first event, titled "On the Secrets of Publishing" will be on March 18 at Kinokuniya Southern Theater in Shinjuku from 2 p.m. to 4:30 p.m., when Maschler will give a speech titled "Publishing is Like a Love Affair."

The second event, "On the Making of World Literature: Reports From the Battlefield," is scheduled for March 20 at the University of Tokyo's Hongo Campus (second floor classroom of the Hobun 2-gokan building) from 2 to 4:30 p.m. The title of Maschler's speech is "Writers I Have Known."

At both events, simultaneous interpretation will be provided and admission is free.

To participate, apply to the Japanese Literature Publishing and Promotion Center by telephone at (03) 5363-1127, by fax to (03) 5363-1128, or by e-mail to [email protected]