Debut author Saou Ichikawa enters global spotlight with “Hunchback”

Extract from Kyodo

December 15 2025

TOKYO – “Hunchback,” a novel by Japanese author Saou Ichikawa, is rapidly gaining international recognition, earning nominations for several major Western literary awards despite being the writer’s first published book. 

Ichikawa, who relies on a ventilator and electric wheelchair due to an incurable congenital muscle disorder, has drawn praise from critics who describe the novel’s global rise as an “unprecedented achievement.”

In a written interview with Kyodo News in October, Ichikawa said she hoped the book would challenge assumptions surrounding disability. “I would be happy if I could stick a little thorn into the ‘eugenics ideology'” seen worldwide, she said.

Published in 2023 and winner of the Akutagawa Prize, a prestigious literary award in Japan given to promising new writers, Hunchback follows a severely physically disabled woman living in a care home and portrays her anger, desire and frustration through a mix of stark, provocative language and dry humor.

The novel includes lines such as “In another life, I’d like to work as a high-class prostitute” and “I’d like to get pregnant and have an abortion,” using the narrator’s uncompromising voice to critique what Ichikawa calls “able-bodied supremacy.”

Translated into English by Polly Barton, the book drew immediate interest overseas. The London-based publication ArtReview described it as a book that “demands to be read and reread” and its international momentum continued as it was shortlisted for the International Booker Prize in Britain and the U.S. National Book Award for Translated Literature.

In October, it was also named a finalist for the foreign novel category of France’s Prix Medicis. Although it did not win, translations have already been confirmed for more than 20 countries and regions.

The novel’s reception reflects a growing international focus on minority rights and feminist themes, according to translator Yukiko Konosu.

“Ichikawa’s work, which depicts the perspectives of the underdog and issues surrounding women’s sexuality, was a perfect fit.”

Konosu added that Japanese literature is enjoying renewed attention abroad as more translators develop expertise with contemporary authors, allowing subtle stylistic and tonal elements to be conveyed accurately.

At the same time, publishers are showing increased interest in literature from Asia and Africa, contributing to a wider diversification of translated fiction, she noted.