Sayaka Murata
Japanese writer (born 1979)
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Sayaka Murata (村田沙耶香 Murata Sayaka; born August 14, 1979) is a Japanese writer. She is best known for the international bestseller Convenience Store Woman (2016) which has been translated into more than thirty languages worldwide. Murata has won many major literary prizes in Japan, including the Gunzo Prize for New Writers in 2003, the Noma Literary New Face Prize in 2009, the Mishima Yukio Prize in 2013, and the Akutagawa Prize for Convenience Store Woman in 2016. All the English translations of her work are done by Ginny Tapley Takemori. In addition to Convenience Store Woman, Murata's first book to be published in English, Takemori has translated the novels Earthlings and Vanishing World, the short-story collection Life Ceremony, the short stories "Faith", "Survival", and "A Clean Marriage", as well as the New York Times published opinion piece "The Future of Sex Lives in All of Us", among others.
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Sayaka Murata | |
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村田沙耶香 | |
Murata at the LiteratureXchange Festival in Aarhus, Denmark, in 2022 | |
| Born | August 14, 1979 |
| Education | Tamagawa University |
| Writing career | |
| Language | Japanese |
| Genre | Fiction |
| Notable works |
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| Notable awards | |
| Signature | |
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Murata's latest book to be published in English is the 2025 novel Vanishing World, originally published in Japan in 2015. Her latest work in Japanese has been the 2022 short-story collection Faith, of which two stories were translated by Takemori individually.
Biography
Murata was born in Inzai, Chiba Prefecture, Japan, in 1979. Her father was a judge and her mother was a housewife. Murata has said she did not have a happy childhood. She started writing stories at age 10.[1] As a child, she often read science fiction and mystery novels borrowed from her brother and mother, and her mother bought her a word processor after she attempted to write a novel by hand in the fourth grade of elementary school.[2] After Murata completed middle school in Inzai, her family moved to Tokyo, where she graduated from Kashiwa High School (attached to Nishogakusha University) and studied art curation at Tamagawa University.[1][3]
Her first novel, Jyunyū (Breastfeeding), won the 2003 Gunzo Prize for New Writers.[4] In 2013, she won the Mishima Yukio Prize for Shiro-iro no machi no, sono hone no taion no (Of Bones, Of Body Heat, Of Whitening City), and in 2014 the Special Prize of the Sense of Gender Award.[5][6] In 2016, her 10th novel, Konbini ningen (Convenience Store Woman), won the prestigious Akutagawa Prize,[7] and she was named one of Vogue Japan's Women of the Year.[8] Konbini ningen has sold over 1.5 million copies in Japan[9] and in 2018 it became her first book to be translated into English, under the title Convenience Store Woman.[10] It has been translated into more than 30 languages.[9]
Murata worked part-time as a convenience store clerk in Tokyo for eighteen years until 2017.[11] She has lived in Shinjuku, Tokyo since she was a student.[1]
Writing style
Murata's writing explores the different consequences of nonconformity in society for men and women, particularly with regard to gender roles, parenthood, and sex.[12] Many of the themes and character backstories in her writing come from her daily observations as a part-time convenience store worker.[11] Societal acceptance of sexlessness in various forms, including asexuality, voluntary and involuntary celibacy, especially within marriage, recurs as a theme in several of her works, such as the novels Shōmetsu sekai (Dwindling World) and Konbini ningen (Convenience Store Woman), and the short story "A Clean Marriage."[13][14] Murata is also known for her frank depictions of adolescent sexuality in work such as Gin iro no uta (Silver Song)[15] and Shiro-iro no machi no, sono hone no taion no (Of Bones, of Body Heat, of Whitening City).[16] In Satsujin shussan, she depicts a future society which may be seen as dystopic.[5]
Themes
Challenging taboos
Murata often places challenging taboos at the forefront of her most popular works.[17] The title Earthlings focuses on an 11-year-old girl named Natsuki, with her boyfriend and cousin, Yuu, who believe themselves to be aliens due to their tumultuous relationship with their family. The story quickly develops into a harsh tale containing themes of "sexual abuse, murder, and cannibalism."[17] Murata states on challenging taboos: "For example, murder is said to be taboo, but then why is it considered acceptable if it’s legitimate self-defense or capital punishment? I sensed the ambiguity in my childish mind. And I felt a physical repulsion and fear inside me toward incest and cannibalism, although I didn’t know why they were forbidden. I wondered where those emotions came from.”[17] Murata believes that the more she writes about the questioning of these taboos, the closer she will come to the "real truth of things."[17]
Conformity
The topic of conformity is common in Japanese literature and culture, and Murata frequently questions its validity, especially in Convenience Store Woman.[18] In this novel, Keiko, a part-time convenience store worker, is confronted by societal expectations to marry and pursue a traditional career.[19]
Asexuality and fictosexuality
Many of Murata's main heroines find themselves in asexual relationships, such as Natsuki in Earthlings and Keiko in Convenience Store Woman.[20][21] Asexuality is a theme that coincides with questioning the standards society typically expects from citizens, a notion that Murata explores frequently.[17] Murata has stated that "fictosexuality is very strong in [her]"[22] and has written novels that include themes of asexuality and fictosexuality, such as Vanishing World.[23]
Global warming and climate change
Murata addresses the subject of global warming in her short story, "Survival", which was included in an anthology titled Tales of Two Planets: Stories of Climate Change. The story details a dystopian Japanese society and describes what the world could look like if climate change is left unaddressed.[24][25][26]
Bibliography
Short story collections
| Title | Year | Original ISBN | Original publisher | Stories | Notes | Ref(s). |
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| Junyū (授乳; lit. Breastfeeding) | 2005 | 9784062127943 | Kodansha |
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| Gin'iro no Uta (ギンイロノウタ; lit. Silver Song) | 2009 | 9784103100713 | Shinchosha |
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| Hoshi ga Sū Mizu (星が吸う水; lit. Water for the Stars) | 2010 | 9784062160971 | Kodansha |
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| Satsujin Shussan (殺人出産; lit. The Murder Births) | 2014 | 9784062190466 | Kodansha |
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| Life Ceremony (生命式, Seimeishiki) | 2019 | 9784309028309 | Kawade Shobo Shinsha |
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| Marunouchi Mahō Shōjo Mirakurīna (丸の内魔法少女ミラクリーナ; lit. Mirakurīna, the Marunouchi Magical Girl) | 2020 | 9784041084236 | Kadokawa |
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| Faith (信仰, Shinkō) | 2022 | 9784163915500 | Bungeishunjū |
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Novels
| Title | Year | Original ISBN | Original publisher | Notes | Ref(s). |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mouse (マウス, Mausu) | 2008 | 9784062145893 | Kodansha | ||
| Hakobune (ハコブネ; lit. Ark) | 2011 | 9784087714289 | Shueisha | ||
| Tadaima Tobira (タダイマトビラ; lit. A Welcoming Door) | 2012 | 9784103100720 | Shinchosha | ||
| Shiroiro no Machi no, Sono Hone no Taion no (しろいろの街の、その骨の体温の; lit. Of Bones, of Body Heat, of Whitening City) | 2012 | 9784022510112 | Asahi Shimbun | ||
| Shōmetsu Sekai (消滅世界; lit. Dwindling World) | 2015 | 9784309024325 | Kawade Shobo Shinsha | Published in English as Vanishing World by Grove Atlantic in 2025 (ISBN 9780802164667), translated by Ginny Tapley Takemori.[34] | |
| Convenience Store Woman (コンビニ人間, Konbini Ningen) | 2016 | 9784163906188 | Bungeishunjū | Published in English by Grove Atlantic in 2018 (ISBN 9780802128256), translated by Ginny Tapley Takemori.[35] | |
| Earthlings (地球星人, Chikyū Seijin) | 2018 | 9784103100737 | Shinchosa | Published in English by Grove Atlantic in 2020 (ISBN 9780802157003), translated by Ginny Tapley Takemori.[36] | |
| Kawarimi (変半身; lit. Changeability) | 2019 | 9784480804914 | Chikuma Shobō | ||
| World 99 (世界99) | 2025 | 9784087718799 | Shueisha |
Other works
- "Chameleon" (photoessay with Tomoko Sawada), English translation by Ginny Tapley Takemori, Granta 144: Art & Photography, 2018.[37]
- "The Future of Sex Lives in All of Us" (article), English translation by Ginny Tapley Takemori, The New York Times, 2019.[38]
Awards and recognition
| Year | Prize | Work | Notes | Ref(s). |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | Gunzo Prize for New Writers | "Junyū" | Won | [4] |
| 2009 | Mishima Yukio Prize | Gin'iro no Uta | Nominated | [6] |
| Noma Literary New Face Prize | Won | [39] | ||
| 2010 | Mishima Yukio Prize | Hoshi ga Sū Mizu | Nominated | [6] |
| 2012 | Mishima Yukio Prize | Tadaima Tobira | Nominated | [6] |
| 2013 | Mishima Yukio Prize | Shiroiro no Machi no, Sono Hone no Taion no | Won | [6] |
| 2014 | Sense of Gender Awards | Satsujin Shussan | Won | [40] |
| 2016 | Akutagawa Prize | Convenience Store Woman | Won | [7] |
Notes
- The name of the first pentad in the usui solar term, corresponding to February 19–23