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Japan Times
04-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Japan Times
Queer-coded yakuza story wins prestigious U.K. crime writing award
Akira Otani's "The Night of Baba Yaga,' translated into English by Sam Bett, received the prestigious Crime Writers' Association Dagger Award for crime fiction in translation in London on July 3. It's the first time a Japanese writer has won the translation award since it was established in 2006. The genre-bending novel takes place in Japan's 1970s yakuza underworld and centers on two women, Yoriko Shindo, a ruthless martial arts fighter, and 'the princess' Shoko, daughter of a mob boss, for whom Yoriko serves as a bodyguard. "In form and style and content, 'The Night of Baba Yaga' is unlike any book I've translated, but it's also eerily familiar, like a myth you overheard before you learned to talk,' Bett tells The Japan Times. Contributor Kris Kosaka writes in her review, '(The novel) radiates with both cinematic grandeur and a subtle, constant railing against normalization of any kind, the latter of which can be seen in another aspect of queerness that permeates the novel: its framing of what it means to be the 'other' in society.' 'The Night of Baba Yaga' was a commercial success in Japan and was shortlisted for the Mystery Writers of Japan Award in 2021. It's Otani's first novel to be translated into English, by Soho Press in the U.S. and Faber and Faber in the U.K. Translating the novel was not a safe, obvious venture from the start. "'The Night of Baba Yaga' has no obvious comparison title among what's been published from Japan,' Bett says. 'It's more like a 1970s exploitation film than any book that comes to mind. It's built differently, somehow both borrowing from action cinema and playing entirely by its own rules. 'After today, those of us working in publishing should all feel more encouraged to take risks on the books that we believe in.'
NHK
04-07-2025
- Entertainment
- NHK
Japanese yakuza novel wins UK award for crime fiction in translation
A novel depicting yakuza gangster life by a Japanese author has won a prestigious British award for crime fiction. The Crime Writers' Association awarded its 2025 Dagger prize for crime fiction in translation to Otani Akira's "The Night of Baba Yaga" in London on Thursday. The novel was translated by Sam Bett. Created in 1955, the Daggers are considered one of the world's most prestigious awards for crime and thriller writing along with the Edgar Awards of the United States. The story is about the bond between a woman known for her fighting prowess and the only daughter of the head of a Japanese yakuza group. The woman is forced to become the daughter's bodyguard. It depicts how the two women come to trust each other against the backdrop of the criminal underworld. The fast-paced novel makes use of graphically violent scenes and language to depict the two women in pursuit of their hopes for their lives. The book was first published in Japan in 2020. Translated versions later hit the British, US, and South Korean markets. Some reviews described the novel as one that empowers women in a sophisticated way. Otani, 44, is from Tokyo and was originally a scenario writer for video games. She has written novels and essays on a variety of themes, including love and families. The Daggers' translated novel category was created in 2006. Japanese author Yuzuki Asako's Butter was also shortlisted for this year's prize. Otani is the first Japanese Dagger winner and the second Asian, following South Korean writer Yun Ko-eun who won in 2021.
