Sayaka Murata

Sayaka Murata is a Japanese novelist whose work examines social norms, conformity, and the experience of people who feel out of step with the expectations placed on them. She gained international acclaim for Convenience Store Woman (published in Indonesian as Gadis Minimarket), which won the Akutagawa Prize and was translated into numerous languages.

Her fiction is often noted for its spare, observational style and its unflinching, sometimes unsettling examination of what it means to fit — or refuse to fit — into society. Murata has published numerous novels and short stories in Japan and continues to be one of the country's most distinctive contemporary literary voices.