Author’s Talk: Sayaka Murata

Japanese Author, Sayaka Murata, is arguably the current most-watched literary talent both in Japan and internationally. Her representative novel, Convenience Store Woman (KonbiniNingen) for which she drew on her own experience of working in a store, earned her Japan’s most prestigious literature prize, the Akutagawa award, with a jury’s fascinating comment that “it is very rare for the prize to go to such amusing literature”. Recently translated into English, Convenience Store Woman has stormed the world with joyful surprise and received rave reviews. Her other titles include her debut work, Breastfeeding (Junyu, 2003) and Breeders and Killers (Satsujin Shussan, 2014).

In conjunction with her sell-out appearance at this year’s Times and Sunday Times Cheltenham Literature Festival, Murata, in conversation with Megan Bradshaw, former UK Editor at Asymptote Journal will talk, for the first time in London, about her representative work and discuss her views on non-conformity within society, gender roles and parenthood in her work. Joined by the English version’s translator of Convenience Store Woman, Ginny Tapley Takemori, who has previously translated for many Japanese authors including Ryu Murakami and Miyuki Miyabe, the event will also provide insight into the difficulties and intricacies of translating works across such a board cultural divide.