Red Circle Minis on sale at a Kinokuniya bookshop in Tokyo.Kinokuniya, like other retailers in Japan and internationally, started promoting and taking orders online for the first three titles in the series in advance of publication last week, but Kinokuniya is the first retailer in Japan to display and promote print copies of the books in its physical bookshops.
Kinokuniya, founded in 1927, has more than 50 bookshops in Japan and a growing international presence with retail outlets in Singapore, Sydney, Dubai, Taipei, Bangkok and New York, to name just a few.
Kinokuniya’s international presence is expanding with its next new store planned in Katy Texas, a state where it already has several successful bookshops.
The Red Circle team meet with the international books team at Kinokuniya this week in Shinjuku to discuss how best to make this exciting new series of short books by Japan’s finest contemporary writers accessible to readers worldwide and available for purchase through Kinokuniya’s local and international channels and shops.
Red Circle Minis is a series that brings the narratives and voices of Japan together as never before. Each book is a first edition written specifically for the series and is being published in English first.
The first three titles in the series are: Stand-In Companion by Kazufumi Shiraishi (translated by Raj Mahtani); Backlight by Kanji Hanawa (translated by Richard Nathan); and Tokyo Performance by Roger Pulvers.
About Red Circle:Red Circle Authors Limited is a specialist publishing and communications company that conducts bespoke projects on behalf of a carefully selected and curated group of leading Japanese authors. Red Circle showcases Japan’s best creative writing. For more information on Red Circle, Japanese literature, and Red Circle authors please visit: www.redcircleauthors.com.-
About Kanji Hanawa:Kanji Hanawa, a former professor of French literature is a master of the shorty story. He wrote hundreds and dedicated his life to writing short stories and novella about life in ancient, modern and contemporary Japan. Two of his short stories have been shortlisted for the prestigious Akutagawa Literary Prize. Hanawa’s tales reflect a deep interest in human psychology and complex relationships – whose narratives expose the pressures and challenges of life in Japan.- About Kazufumi Shiraishi:Kazufumi Shiraishi had a successful career, spanning two decades, as a journalists working for one of Japan's highest profile monthly magazines, Bungeishinju, before following in the steps of his father and twin brother becoming a full time author. He is a deeply thoughtful author who writes about love, life and the human condition and is unique in being the only Japanese author to follow in his father’s footsteps by winning the same major Japanese literary prize.
- About Roger Pulvers:Roger Pulvers is an author, playwright, theatre director, and translator. He has published more than 50 books in Japanese and English, including novels, essays, plays, and poetry. Helping make Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence, and befriending David Bowie brought him back to Japan and inspired him to become the award-winning and prolific author, playwright, film director he is today. His recent novel, Hoshizuna Monogatari (Star Sand), which he wrote in Japanese, was published by Kodansha, Japan’s largest publisher, in 2015 and subsequently in English and French in 2016 and 2017 respectively. It was released as a film, directed by him, in 2017.
