site.btaJapanese Writer Sayaka Murata Visits Bulgaria for First Time During Literary Talks Festival

World-renowned Japanese writer Sayaka Murata visited Bulgaria for the first time during the Literary Talks Festival (April 23–25) in Sofia's City Stage on Thursday. Moderator of the discussion was Bulgarian literary critic Darin Tenev, with interpretation from the Japanese by Albena Todorova. 

Often described as "the author who broke through the wall of Haruki Murakami", Sayaka Murata is one of the most prominent figures in contemporary Japanese literature. Her books Convenience Store Woman and Earthlings have been translated into Bulgarian, and published by Colibri Publishing House. Her novel Shoumetsu sekai (Vanishing World) is among the finalists for the prestigious Locus Award 2026 in the Translated Novel category. Murata’s works have been translated into more than 30 languages.

The conversation was opened by the Japanese Ambassador to Bulgaria Chikahisa Sumi with welcoming remarks.

Murata’s novels often depict and critique the trend toward homogeneity and uniformity in the contemporary world. She shared a childhood story in which a teacher told her class that people who demonstrate individuality are the ones who shape the future of the world. One of the themes that the author has been recently interested in is precisely the meaning of the word "individuality" and how its distortion can lead to authoritarianism and violence. The participants also discussed George Orwell’s dystopian novel 1984, and the idea that even in an individualistic society, there are still people who remain excluded from it.

Such are Murata’s characters - their quiet resistance to today’s world lies in their refusal to participate in it and to live merely as components of a system. Yet within this refusal lie dangers and cruelty, which Murata explores in her works, including the novel Sekai 99 (World 99).

The conversation also touched on traditional modes of storytelling and how Murata inherits and transforms them as a contemporary writer, as well as the relationship between dystopia and ambiguity. Some aspects of her books seem frightening only because they are viewed through the framework of contemporary values, and certain elements are already happening around the world, as some of her readers have noted.

When asked about the transgression of taboos in her novels, Murata replied: "It has never occurred to me that there are things I shouldn’t write about. My writing process resembles a laboratory with a vivarium, where I throw in different human parts that assemble themselves together. When I was a child, I often felt as though I had died and that this body had been given to me to write novels. If something is to kill me, I want it to be novels".

At the end of the discussion, Sayaka Murata shared that in every bookstore abroad she always looks for editions of The Stranger by Albert Camus, which she has reread countless of times.

When the conversation ended, the audience had the opportunity to ask questions and receive autographs and photos with the author.

"Dystopia and Resistance" is the theme of the tenth edition of the Literary Talks Festival, organized by the Reading Sofia Foundation. Special guests include Sayaka Murata and Irish writer Paul Lynch, winner of the Booker Prize for 2023. This year’s programme features discussions and readings with Bulgarian authors, renewed encounters with previously published books, a bookstore, a youth workshop, a performance, and a professional international programme involving cultural managers and festival directors from various European countries. Around 40 writers, poets, scholars, researchers, actors, and literary managers are expected to take part in the ten public events, the organizers said.