Japanese novelist Yuzuki's "Butter" wins British book award
Japanese novel "Butter" by Asako Yuzuki has won the debut fiction section at the 2025 British Book Awards, its Japanese publisher said Tuesday, as translations of the work enjoy a boom in critical and commercial recognition abroad.
Yuzuki's novel, her first to be published in Britain, received the award on Monday local time, Shinchosha said.
Since its release in the country in 2024, the book has won acclaim for exploring themes of misogyny, fatphobia and sexism in modern Japan.
Yuzuki said it was "a great honor" and thanked English translator Polly Barton, her British publisher and booksellers and readers in a statement issued by the publisher.
"Butter" follows journalist Rika Machida as she investigates Manako Kajii, a woman accused of killing men she has seduced with elaborate meals. Through exchanges on food, Machida becomes fascinated by Kajii's tastes and faces some of the same body shaming as her subject.
Overseas sales of "Butter" have overtaken the around 300,000 copies sold in Japan since its 2017 release, with over 400,000 in Britain and more than 100,000 sold in the United States, Shinchosha said.
Last year, "Butter" was named the Waterstones Book Of The Year by the major British bookshop chain.
The win comes amid high interest in translated Japanese fiction in Britain. According to the sponsor of Britain's prestigious International Booker Prize, 14 of the top 30 translated novels sold in Britain in 2022 were Japanese works.
Related coverage:
FEATURE: Yuzuki's "Butter" achieves success abroad as feminist novel
S. Korea's Han Kang receives Nobel literature prize amid turmoil at home
Japan novelist Haruki Murakami to be given honorary doctorate by alma mater
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