A celebration of contemporary Japanese fiction, this special event brings together two extraordinary writers; Satoshi Yagisawa and Emi Yagi as they discuss storytelling, love and loneliness.

Satoshi Yagisawa’s international bestseller, Days at the Morisaki Bookshop, is a tender, life-affirming novel set among the second-hand bookshops of Tokyo’s Jimbocho district. Following twenty-five-year-old Takako as she retreats to her eccentric uncle’s bookshop after heartbreak, the novel and its sequel, More Days at the Morisaki Bookshop, explores the healing power of books and human connection.

“Readers will want to linger in this world. They will want more when this concise tale ends.” Booklist

Emi Yagi’s When the Museum is Closed offers a strikingly different yet deeply resonant exploration of similar themes. By turns witty, surreal and charming, it follows Rika, a young woman whose after-hours conversations with a statue of Venus evolve into a joyful, queer love story. Yagi’s work examines loneliness, desire, freedom and how women are seen in society with warmth and originality.

“a fun and (metaphysical) sexy queer love story.” LitHub

This is a rare opportunity to hear from two of Japan’s most exciting writers in translation.

Satoshi Yagisawa debuted in 2010 with Morisaki Shoten no hibi, which was adapted into a hit film and followed up with a sequel publication. His Morisaki Bookshop series has since been translated worldwide, become an international bestseller and was shortlisted for the British Book Awards. His other works include the Junkissa Torunka (Torunka Cafe) series. His hobbies include playing the guitar and he loves coffee and cats.

Emi Yagi, born in Nagano in 1988, is the award-winning author of Diary of a Void and When the Museum is Closed. Her work has been translated into 25 languages and acclaimed internationally. Her first novel and international cult hit, Diary of a Void, won the Osamu Dazai Prize. She lives in Tokyo and is an editor at a leading women’s magazine.

A Manchester Literature Festival event. Co-presented with The Japan Foundation, the Japan Publishing Industry Foundation for Culture and the Agency for Cultural Affairs.