author
John Paris
b. 1889
Best known as John Paris, this British diplomat turned his years in Japan and East Asia into vivid fiction. His novels stood out for treating Japanese life with unusual realism rather than easy exotic fantasy.
1 Audiobook
Kimono
by John Paris
About the author
Frank Trelawny Arthur Ashton-Gwatkin, born on April 14, 1889, wrote fiction under the pen name John Paris. He was also a British diplomat and Foreign Office official, with much of his professional life tied to East Asia, especially Japan.
That background shaped the books readers know under the John Paris name. Works such as Kimono, Sayonara (Good-Bye), Banzai (Hurrah!), and Matsu drew on firsthand experience and helped give his stories a sharper, more grounded picture of Japan than many English-language novels of the period.
He died on January 30, 1976. While he had a substantial public career outside literature, John Paris remains an interesting figure for readers who enjoy fiction shaped by travel, diplomacy, and close observation of another culture.