The New York Public Library’s World Literature Festival celebrates books and writers from around the world and reflects the languages spoken in our communities. Discover what our patrons are reading in different languages, resources the Library offers, free online events, book recommendations, and more.

While the lady-in-waiting of the Heian court Murasaki Shikibu is often lauded as one of the first novelists in the history of literature for her 1008 novel The Tale of Genji, it has been only recently that more Japanese women authors have been able to enjoy the global recognition they deserve. With more translations coming out yearly and many of them winning awards, the voices of Japanese women are finally reaching a broader English-speaking audience and in turn sparking a dialogue between experiences that, though separated by miles and language, have much to find in parallel. Here is a list of modern, women-authored Japanese literary fiction novels that are available from the Library in their English translations (some are also available in their original Japanese and more are forthcoming). 

Breasts and Eggs by Mieko Kawakami, translated by Sam Bett and David Boyd

English | Japanese

From first periods to breast implants, artificial insemination, and motherhood, narrator and protagonist Natsuko explores what it means to be a female body in a patriarchal society with a surreal intensity. 

Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata, translated by Ginny Tapley Takemori

English | Japanese

A Japanese woman who fits in all too well with the convenience store at which she has worked for 18 years, much to the disappointment of her family, takes a stab at trying on what society says is the right path to her with the worst possible match. 

The Emissary by Yoko Tawada, translated by Margaret Mitsutani

English | Japanese

A speculative fiction novel set in a Japan that has cut itself off from the world after suffering a massive irreparable disaster. Yoshiro, a spry man over one hundred years old, cares for his feeble grandson, Mumei, a mysteriously positive boy with strange wisdom who, despite a deteriorating body, may be a beacon of hope for the future.

The Hole by Hiroko Oyamada, translated by David Boyd

English | Japanese

After moving to her husband’s family’s home in the countryside to be near his new job and giving up her own career, one woman experiences a separation from reality that forces her to question her sanity and the nature of life and death. 

An I-Novel by Minae Mizumura, translated by Juliet Winters Carpenter in collaboration with the author

English | Japanese

A semi-autobiographical work that takes place over the course of a single day in the 1980s in which Minae, a graduate student and Japanese expatriate living in the US, reflects on her life as an immigrant and decides to return to Japan to become a Japanese writer.

Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto, translated by Megan Backus

English | Japanese

After suffering the loss of her parents and grandmother, Mikage finds solace in an improvised, unconventional family with her friend and his cross-dressing father. Will their bonds be able to withstand a new onset of sorrow and loss?

The Memory Police by Yoko Ogawa, translated by Stephen Snyder

English | Japanese

In an Orwellian style dystopia, a young writer must hide her editor from mysterious authorities who use the terror of state surveillance to find and subsequently erase memories of people who once existed. 

Nakano Thrift Shop by Hiromi Kawakami, translated by Allison Markin Powell

English | Japanese

In the Nakano Thrift Shop, where every item for sale holds many secrets, Hitomi, the inexperienced young woman who works the register, falls for her oddly reserved co-worker and asks her employer’s sister for advice in attracting his attention, soon coming to realize what it truly means to love someone.

Tokyo Ueno Station by Miri Yu, translated by Morgan Giles

English | Japanese

Haunting the park near Tokyo’s Ueno Station, the ghost of a man whose life eerily paralleled the Emperor’s reflects on the milestones that impacted his existence, from his homelessness and the 2011 tsunami to the 1964 and 2020 Olympics.

Where the Wild Ladies are by Aoko Matsuda, translated by Polly Barton

English | Japanese

Retelling traditional Japanese folktales with a modern and feminist twist, this collection shows a world in which humans live alongside spirits whose sorrows and hindsight may be just the thing to unlock the potential for subversion in the people they meet.