The genres of fantasy and science fiction literature have often been associated with male authors (with notable exceptions like Ursula Le Guin and Octavia Butler). That trend, however, has shifted in recent years, with many of the most celebrated and award-winning sci-fi authors being women and non-binary writers. So, let’s explore some of the very …
Women in Translation
The genre of yuri manga is always expanding, and at an increasing rate. While there have been classic girls’ love manga for decades, we are now very spoiled for choice. However, just like with straight romance manga and BL manga, you need to separate the wheat from the chaff in order to find the most …
Light novels are a huge and popular medium in Japan, and increasingly so in the West as well. The more good ones pour in, however, the harder it gets to sift through and find the best light novels to read. What you’ll find here is a selection of the best light novels currently available in …
It’s often the great European and American mystery writers of the 19th and 20th centuries — writers like Agatha Christie, Edgar Allan Poe, and Arthur Conan Doyle — whom we first turn to when looking for a great detective novel. However, the truth is that the Japanese mystery novels (honkaku) of the 20th century and …
Seinen manga covers a wide variety of genres. In fact, it’s a type of manga that isn’t restricted by genre boundaries at all. But that has nothing to do with quality. And so, irrespective of genre or age, quality is still quality, and the best seinen manga can be found across all genres of manga. …
Japanese folktales have had an enormous impact on the history of fiction and storytelling, not only in their native Japan, but across the world. Now, in collaboration with Short Shorts Film Festival and Japan Cultural Expo, three young contemporary Japanese writers from Okinawa, Hiroshima, and Kumamoto have each written a short story inspired by traditional …
Year after year, we are treated to more incredible Japanese books in translation. After the fantastic turn-out of Japanese books in 2021 — especially Kyoko Nakajima’s Things Remembered and Things Forgotten and Mieko Kawakami’s Heaven — 2022 has a lot to live up to. Luckily, all signs point to 2022 being an even better year …
When I first read and reviewed Banana Yoshimoto’s seminal work, Kitchen, I mentioned how it tackled ‘the brevity of life, and the dangerous potential of love and happiness to be painfully fleeting’. This theme is not only true for Kitchen but for all of Yoshimoto’s writing. It is, in a nutshell, what makes her tick …
So, you want to learn more about the history, politics, and culture of China and you’re looking to read some books about China in order to do that. Do you pick up a novel by a Chinese author or search for a Chinese memoir? I suspect most English-language readers would go for fiction. It’s so …
When the Dorohedoro anime hit Netflix, it turned a lot of heads. But for fans of the anime and newcomers alike, Q Hayashida’s Dorohedoro manga, which has been going since 2002, is an absolute must-read. In her Dorohedoro manga, Q Hayashida has created a gnarly, nasty, raw, and radical piece of fiction. Dorohedoro is bloody, …