Exclusive talk show with Sayaka Murata, Japanese bestselling author of “Convenience Store Woman”

Keiko is working at a Konbini. She found her calling in this clean and well-ordered convenience store. But she is scrutinized and pressured because she neither wants to start a family nor have a proper career.

The isolated heroine of Sayaka Murata’s novel “Convenience Store Woman” wasn’t only a great success in Japan, where Murata won the Akutagawa Award in 2016, but resonated with readers internationally. In Germany, the following translations of “Earthlings” and “Life Ceremony”, all done by Ursula Gräfe, also met great enthusiasm. In those works, Murata explores misfits and their complicated relationship with society even more radically: she deals with tenderness and abuse, marriage-like friendships, and the preparation for an extraterrestrial existence. Murata exaggerates human behavior and thus reveals its absurdity: her characters wear sweaters made from human hair and cook stew from their deceased.
Welcome to the unique world of the Japanese bestselling author Sayaka Murata!

Co-organized with The Agency for Cultural Affairs, Government of Japan.

Event with simultaneous translation: German/Japanese/English.

For this event, people with hearing aids or cochlear implants can borrow portable induction loops that connect to the translation system receivers. Translation will be provided into English, German and Japanese. The induction slings are available at the particular stage without prior registration.

Participants:
- Katharina Borchardt (Moderator)
- Sayaka Murata (Author)