Kanae Minato
Kanae Minato | |
---|---|
Born |
1973 Innoshima, Hiroshima, Japan |
Occupation | Writer |
Language | Japanese |
Period | 2007–present |
Genre | Crime fiction, thriller |
Notable awards |
Japanese Booksellers Award (2009) Mystery Writers of Japan Award (2012) |
Kanae Minato (Chinese:凑佳苗; pinyin:Ban daijie,湊かなえ Minato Kanae, born 1973) is a Japanese writer of crime fiction and thriller. She is a member of the Mystery Writers of Japan and the Honkaku Mystery Writers Club of Japan.[1][2]
She started writing in her thirties. Her first novel Confessions became a bestseller and won the Japanese Booksellers Award.
In youth she was an avid fan of mystery novels of Edogawa Ranpo, Maurice Leblanc, Agatha Christie, Keigo Higashino, Miyuki Miyabe and Yukito Ayatsuji.[3]
She has been described in Japan as "the queen of iyamisu."[4] Iyamisu (eww mystery) is a subgenre of mystery fiction which deals with grisly episodes and the dark side of human nature. Readers blurt out "eww" when they are reading iyamisu novels. The term was created in 2006 by the mystery critic Aoi Shimotsuki.[5] There has been an iyamisu boom in Japan since around 2012. Kanae Minato, Mahokaru Numata and Yukiko Mari are regarded as representatives of the genre in Japan.[6][7] The back cover blurb of the Japanese edition of Gone Girl, published in June 2013, was "One of the best iyamisu novels from overseas."
The English edition of Minato's Confessions, published in August 2014, was described by a critic as "the Gone Girl of Japan."[8]
Wall Street Journal selected Confessions as one of the 10 best mysteries of 2014.[9]
Works in English translation
- Confessions (original title: Kokuhaku), trans. Stephen Snyder (Mulholland Books, 2014)
Awards and nominations
- Japanese Awards
- 2007 – Shosetsu Suiri New Writers Prize: "The Saint" (The first chapter of her novel Confessions)
- 2009 – Japanese Booksellers Award: Confessions
- 2012 – Mystery Writers of Japan Award for Best Short Story: "Umi no Hoshi"
- U.S. Awards
- 2015 – Alex Award:[10] Confessions
- 2015 – Nominee for Strand Critics Award for Best First Novel:[11] Confessions
- 2015 – Nominee for Shirley Jackson Award for Best Novel:[12] Confessions
Bibliography
Standalone novels
- Kokuhaku (告白), 2008 (Confessions)
- Shōjo (少女), 2009 (Girls)
- Shokuzai (贖罪), 2009 (Expiation)
- Enu no Tame ni (Nのために), 2010 (For N)
- Yakō Kanransha (夜行観覧車), 2010 (The Night Ferris Wheel)
- Hana no Kusari (花の鎖), 2011 (The Chain of Flowers)
- Kyōgū (境遇), 2011 (Circumstances)
- Shirayukihime Satsujin Jiken (白ゆき姫殺人事件), 2012 (The Snow White Murder Case)
- Bosei (母性), 2012 (Motherhood)
- Kōkō Nyūshi (高校入試), 2013 (An Entrance Examination for a High School)
- Mame no Ue de Nemuru (豆の上で眠る), 2014 (Sleep on a Bean)
- Yama Onna Nikki (山女日記), 2014
- Monogatari no Owari (物語のおわり), 2014 (The End of the Story)
- Zesshō (絶唱), 2015
Short story collections
- Ōfuku Shokan (往復書簡), 2010
- Safaia (サファイア), 2012
- Bōkyō (望郷), 2013
TV and film adaptations
- Japanese films
- Confessions (2010)
- Kita no Kanaria tachi (2012) (Based on her short story Niju nen go no Shukudai (二十年後の宿題))
- The Snow White Murder Case (Shirayukihime Satsujin Jiken) (2014)
- Night's Tightrope (Shōjo) (2016)
- Japanese TV dramas
- Kyōgū (2011)
- Penance (2012) (Shokuzai)
- Kōkō Nyūshi (2012)
- Yakō Kanransha (2013)
- Hana no Kusari (2013)
- N no Tame ni (2014)
See also
References
- Profile at J'Lit Books from Japan
- Profile and the synopsis of Confessions at Mulholland Books
- ↑ "Kanae Minato (List of members)" (in Japanese). Mystery Writers of Japan, Inc. Retrieved August 13, 2015.
- ↑ "Members of the Honkaku Mystery Writers Club of Japan" (in Japanese). Honkaku Mystery Writers Club of Japan. Retrieved August 13, 2015.
- ↑ 作家の読書道 第113回:湊かなえさん - 作家の読書道 (in Japanese). WEB 本の雑誌. Retrieved March 3, 2014.
- ↑ “イヤミス”の女王 湊かなえの『贖罪』文庫が大人気 (in Japanese). Da Vinci News. Retrieved February 13, 2015.
- ↑ Shimotsuki, Aoi (January 2007). "Kono iyamisu ni furuero!" このイヤミスに震えろ!. Hon no Zasshi (in Japanese). 32 (1). ISSN 0385-4612.
- ↑ "Yukiko Mari". J-Lit Center. Retrieved February 13, 2015.
- ↑ いや~な汗をかく小説「イヤミス」の魅力とは? (in Japanese). Bookstand. Retrieved February 13, 2015.
- ↑ Cha, Steph (August 8, 2014). "Kanae Minato's 'Confessions' hits its mark with a vengeance". Los Angeles Times.
- ↑ "Best Books of 2014". Wall Street Journal. December 4, 2014.
- ↑ YALSA announces 2015 Alex Awards | News & Press Center | American Library Association
- ↑ Strand Critics Award Nominees Are Announced... | Mystery Center
- ↑ The Shirley Jackson Awards » 2014 Shirley Jackson Awards Winners