A bestselling motivational book based on the Japanese concept of finding happiness in everyday life, now for young readers! The Japanese people say everybody has an "Ikigai," or a reason to live. Some people have found their Ikigai and are aware of it. Other people have it inside, but have not found it yet. This concept, Ikigai, is one of the secrets for a long, active, and happy life. Héctor García and Francesc Miralles visited Ogimi, a town on the north of Okinawa in Japan that has the highest longevity in the world. They spent weeks living with the residents of Ogimi and interviewing dozens of the villagers. These people all had lived to be more than a hundred years old, and they were all in great physical (and spiritual) shape. After their trip, Héctor and Francesc wrote a book examining the centennials' keys to an optimistic and vital existence. What do the oldest people in the world eat, what do they work on, how do they connect with others, and-the best-kept secret-how do they find their Ikigai? Ikigai is what gives them satisfaction and happiness, and brings real meaning to their lives. The result was Ikigai: The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life, an international bestseller which has been translated into over 49 languages. With the book, García and Miralles made it their mission to help its readers find their own Ikigai and discover many keys of Japanese philosophy to a healthy body, mind, and spirit. They have now adapted their bestselling book for young readers. Young adults can find their Ikigai too!
Author
Son of a dressmaker and an erudite office worker, he was born in Barcelona on the 27th August 1968. After spending eight years in a religious school in la Ribera –just beside the Palau de la Música¡–, he attended high school at the extinguished academy ALMI and IES MONTSERRAT. Despite his bad grades, he was accepted into the UAB’s faculty of Journalism, which he quited after four months. That the same year, he started to work as a waiter at LES PUCES DEL BARRI GÒTIC, a bar in the Gothic Quarter where he learned to play the piano. In the following year, returning to the Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona, he started studying English Literature, which he combined with precarious language teacher jobs. After five years of being a sloth, he stalled at the third year of his studies and quited them again. Having been attacked by travel fever since the age of seventeen, he decided to leave everything behind to travel the world. A bunch of chance encounters led him to live in Croatia and Slovenia during the armed conflicts. Upon returning to Barcelona, he resumed his academic life as a student of German Literature at the Universidad de Barcelona. Once he completed his studies, he attended a master for publishers. His entrance in the editorial world had started a year earlier, as translator of German and English spirituality and alternative therapy books. Before finishing his postgraduate studies, he got hired as editor for a publishing house specializing in self-help books. There, he directed several collections, and he also wrote many different types of work under a pseudonym. After leaving the publishing house, he promised to himself never to work again for a company. He decided to try his luck with a first youth novel. Since then, he basically dedicates himself to writing, and works as literary adviser for different publishing houses and an agency. LOVE IN LOWERCASE (AMOR EN MINUSCULA), already translated into twenty languages, is getting published in 2016 by Penguin USA. This book also has its second part, eight years later, in the WABI-SABI novel, about the beauty of imperfection, which will be published in UK this may. Nowadays he combines literature and journalism, and on a monthly basis publishes articles in EL PAÍS SEMANAL, and in the magazines CUERPOMENTE and MENTESANA. Beyond this, he also works for the radio and offers literary Sherpa services and art therapies. ***************************************************** Hijo de una modista y de un administrativo ilustrado, nació en Barcelona el 27 de agosto de 1968. Tras pasar ocho años en una escuela de curas de la Ribera—al lado del Palau de la Música—, cursó bachillerato entre la desaparecida academia ALMI y el IES MONTSERRAT. Pese a su mal expediente consiguió ingresar en la facultad de Periodismo de la UAB, carrera que abandonó al cabo de cuatro meses. Aquel mismo año entró a trabajar de camarero en LES PUCES DEL BARRI GÒTIC, una taberna de la calle Montsió donde aprendió a tocar el piano. Nuevamente en la Autónoma, el año siguiente inició la carrera de Filología Inglesa, que combinaría con empleos precarios de profesor de idiomas. Tras cinco años de desidia, se estancó en tercer curso de carrera y volvió a abandonar los estudios. Atacado desde los 17 años por la fiebre del viajero, decidió dejarlo todo para vagar por el mundo. Un cúmulo de casualidades le llevaron a vivir en Croacia y Eslovenia durante los conflictos bélicos, peripecia que relataría muchos años después en su libro CAFÈ BALCÀNIC. De regreso a Barcelona, se reenganchó a la vida académica como estudiante de Filología Alemana en la Central. Completada la carrera, hizo un postgrado para editores. Su ingreso en el mundo editorial había empezado ya un año antes, como traductor de alemán e inglés de libros de espiritualidad y terapias alternativas. Inmediatamente después fue contratado como editor por un sello de autoayuda. Allí dirigió diversa
