April 23, 2026 | Thursday | 8:00 p.m.

City Stage

(underground level)   

 

Conversation with

Sayaka Murata, Japan

Moderator: Darin Tenev

⇢ Consecutive translation from Japanese: Albena Todorova

 

Sayaka Murata is one of the most prominent figures in contemporary Japanese literature. The first day of the Literary Talks Sofia festival will conclude with a conversation with her, led by literary scholar and professor Darin Tenev. She was named one of “The Future of New Writing” by Freeman magazine. In 2016, she was named “Woman of the Year” by the Japanese edition of Vogue magazine.

She was born in 1979. She graduated from the Faculty of Literature at Saitama University. Today she lives in Tokyo. With her debut novel, Breastfeeding, she won the Gunzo Prize for New Writers in 2003. She is the recipient of some of Japan’s most prestigious literary awards.

In her works, Murata explores the inconsistencies in societal norms regarding men and women. This is most evident in her treatment of gender roles, parenthood, and sexuality. In her most popular works, she often brings provocative taboos to the forefront. Her characters are unable to conform to societal expectations. They are outsiders in a society whose values and constraints seem unacceptable.

Her novel Earthlings was published in Bulgarian in 2025, translated by Nadezhda Rozova (Colibri Publishing). Critical and reader recognition, as well as prestigious awards, have marked every one of her creative accomplishments. Convenience Store Woman (translated by Margarita Ukegawa, Colibri Books) was published in 2016 and is her tenth novel, with over 3.1 million copies sold worldwide. The book has been translated into more than 30 languages and has been awarded Japan’s most prestigious prize, the Akutagawa Prize. In early 2026, it also had its theatrical premiere on the stage of the Ivan Vazov National Theater, directed by Mariy Rosen.