Join us for an electrifying evening with Asako Yuzuki, bestselling author of global phenomenon Butter, as she returns to Manchester Literature Festival to discuss her gripping new novel Hooked.

A darkly compelling exploration of obsession, friendship and control, Hooked centres on Eriko, a woman whose perfect life conceals a profound loneliness. When she becomes fixated on Shoko, a housewife blogger whose chaotic domestic world both fascinates and unsettles her, admiration begins to slide into something far more dangerous.

Beautifully translated by Polly Barton, Hooked is an unsettling examination of the blurred line between friendship and obsession, and a deep exploration of loneliness and womanhood in contemporary Japan. See Asako Yuzuki – one of the most exciting and transgressive voices in contemporary Japanese fiction – in conversation about her work, her themes and what drives her fearless storytelling.

Asako Yuzuki was born in Tokyo in 1981. Her first novel to be translated into English, Butter, became a million-copy global bestseller and multi-award winner. Her work has been translated into 34 languages, adapted across screen and radio, and she is widely acclaimed as a leading voice in Japanese fiction.

Polly Barton is a literary translator and writer. Her translations from Japanese to English include Butter by Asako Yuzuki and Hunchback by Saou Ichikawa, which was longlisted for the International Booker Prize 2025.