Red Circle Authors

Red Circle Authors was set up in 2016, by Richard Nathan and Koji Chikatani, to showcase Japan's best creative writing.{{Cite news|url=https://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20190220-00000051-kyodonews-cul|title=日本の書き下ろし小説、英で出版 現代文学を世界に紹介|date=20 February 2019|work=Yahoo News Japan|access-date=20 April 2019}} The Gutai group was the initial inspiration behind Red Circle Authors.{{Cite web|url=https://www.japantimes.co.jp/culture/2018/12/22/books/red-circle-authors-sending-japanese-literature-westward/|title=Red Circle Authors: Sending Japanese literature westward|date=2018-12-22|website=The Japan Times|access-date=2019-01-30}}

Members of the Red Circle Authors group include: Kazufumi Shiraishi, {{ill|Randy Taguchi|ja|田口ランディ}}, Fuminori Nakamura, {{ill|Kanji Hanawa|ja|花輪莞爾}}, Mitsuyo Kakuta, Takuji Ichikawa, Soji Shimada and Roger Pulvers.

Currently, only a limited number of literary works by Red Circle's curated circle of authors are available outside Japan in translation.{{Cite web|url=https://asia.nikkei.com/Life-Arts/Arts/Bull-market-in-bungaku-highlights-Japanese-literary-revival|title=Bull market in bungaku highlights Japanese literary revival|last=Tasker|first=Peter|website=Nikkei Asian Review|date=January 28, 2019|access-date=January 30, 2019}} Despite this, many of Red Circle's authors have won literary awards in Japan including, for example, the Naoki Prize (Mitsuyo Kakuta 2005, Kazufumi Shiraishi in 2010) and the Akutagawa Prize (Fuminori Nakamura in 2005); and have had their works adapted for film and television in Japan.{{Cite web|url=http://www.booksfromjapan.jp/authors/item/787-mitsuyo-kakuta|title=Profile of Mitsuyo Kakuta 角田光代 listing film & television adaptations|publisher=Foundation for the Advancement of Juvenile Education in Japan|website=booksfromjapan.jp|access-date=February 3, 2019}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.redcircleauthors.com/announcements/just-only-love-the-fifth-mitsuyo-kakuta-book-to-film-adaptation-out-on-general-release/|title='Just Only Love' the fifth Mitsuyo Kakuta book-to-film adaptation out on general release|last=Nathan|first=Richard|date=19 April 2019|website=Red Circle Authors|access-date=20 April 2019}}

Some of the group's authors already have well-established reputations in Asia (in China, Taiwan, Korea, and Thailand, for example){{Cite web|url=https://www.redcircleauthors.com/announcements/kazufumi-shiraishis-rising-international-profile/|title=Kazufumi Shiraishi's rising international profile|date=22 November 2017|website=Red Circle Authors}} and are starting to win international literary prizes.{{Cite web|url=http://www.booksfromjapan.jp/authors/item/420-fuminori-nakamura|title=Profile of Fuminori Nakamura|website=booksfromjapan.jp|publisher=Foundation for the Advancement of Juvenile Education in Japan|access-date=February 3, 2019}} Fuminori Nakamura,{{Cite news|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702304692804577281450108634474|title=In Brief: Mysteries|date=17 March 2012|work=The Wall Street Journal}} for instance, won the David L. Goodis Award in 2014.

Red Circle Authors' publishing imprints are Red Circle{{Cite news|url=https://this.kiji.is/470751663449932897|title=日本の書き下ろし小説、英で出版|date=20 February 2019|work=Kyodo News (In Japanese)|access-date=20 February 2019}}{{Cite news|author=Claire Kohda Hazelton|url=https://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/japan-red-circle-minis-hazelton/|title=Locked in or out? Claire Kohda Hazelton reviews the new Japanese-in-translation imprint Red Circle Minis|date=10 April 2020|work=The Times Literary Supplement (TLS)|access-date=9 April 2020|publisher=The Times Literary Supplement Limited}} and [https://www.redcircleauthors.com/our-books-by-series/circle-editions/ Circle Editions].

Red Circle Authors launched this imprint and publishing programme on 23 November 2018 with the launch of its first series Red Circle Minis{{Cite web|url=https://www.redcircleauthors.com/our-publishing-programme/|title=Red Circle's Publishing Programme|publisher=Red Circle Authors|access-date=February 3, 2019}} and the publication of its first three Minis:{{Cite news|url=https://asia.nikkei.com/Life-Arts/Arts/Bull-market-in-bungaku-highlights-Japanese-literary-revival|title=Bull market in bungaku highlights Japanese literary revival|last=Tasker|first=Peter|date=28 January 2019|work=Nikkei Asia Review}}

Stand-In Companion by Kazufumi Shiraishi,{{Cite book|title=Stand-In Companion|last=Shiraishi|first=Kazufumi|publisher=Red Circle Authors|year=2018|isbn=978-1912864003|location=United Kingdom}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.japantimes.co.jp/culture/2019/01/26/books/book-reviews/androids-infertility-ethics-collide-kazufumi-shiraishis-dystopian-stand-companion/|title=Androids, infertility and ethics collide in Kazufumi Shiraishi's dystopian 'Stand-in Companion'|last=Gattig|first=Nicolas|date=26 January 2019|work=The Japan Times}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.complete-review.com/reviews/japannew/shiraishik3.htm|title=Review of Stand-In Companion|date=27 November 2018|website=The Complete Review}}{{Cite web|url=https://literaturkritik.de/id/25560|title=Das philosophische Paradigma in der zeitgenössischen japanischen Literatur|last=Gebhardt|first=Lisette|date=4 April 2019|website=Literatur Kritik|access-date=20 April 2019}} Backlight by Kanji Hanawa{{Cite book|title=Backlight|last=Hanawa|first=Kanji|publisher=Red Circle Authors|year=2018|isbn=978-1912864041|location=United Kingdom}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.complete-review.com/reviews/japannew/hanawak.htm|title=Review Backlight|date=27 November 2018|website=The Complete Review}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.japantimes.co.jp/culture/2019/06/22/books/book-reviews/backlight-alone-wilds-hokkaido/|title='Backlight': All alone in the wilds of Hokkaido|last=Maloney|first=Iain|date=22 June 2019|work=The Japan Times|access-date=23 September 2019}}{{Cite news|last=Lloyd|first=John|url=https://nbmagazine.co.uk/backlight-by-kanji-hanawa/|title=Backlight by Kanji Hanawa|date=21 January 2020|work=NB Magazine|access-date=24 April 2020}} and Tokyo Performance by Roger Pulvers{{Cite book|title=Tokyo Performance|last=Pulvers|first=Roger|publisher=Red Circle Authors|year=2018|isbn=978-1912864027|location=United Kingdom}}{{Cite web|url=https://booksonasia.net/book/tokyo-performance/|publisher=Books on Asia|title=Review of Tokyo Performance by Roger Pulvers|website=booksonasia.net|access-date=February 3, 2019}}

Commentators and reviewers said after their publications that the approach taken was "not about resizing big books into small objects, but rather about celebrating textual brevity in book form itself",{{Cite news|url=https://www.popmatters.com/books-red-circle-minis-2630072908.html|title=Small Books for Big Brains: Red Circle Minis' Pocket-sized Japanese Fiction|last=Rollmann|first=Hans|date=15 March 2019|work=PopMatters|access-date=16 March 2019}}{{Cite web|url=https://booksandbao.com/2019/04/16/review-red-circle-minis-three-new-japanese-stories/|title=The Red Circle Minis Collection – Three New Japanese Stories|last=Harris|first=Will|date=17 April 2019|website=Books And Bao}} a longtime tradition in Japan.{{Cite web|url=https://www.redcircleauthors.com/news-and-views/short-story-writing-in-japan-from-nobel-prize-winners-to-ai/|title=Short Story Writing in Japan: From Nobel Prize winners to AI|last=Nathan|first=Richard|date=16 March 2019|website=The Circle|access-date=17 March 2019}}{{Cite journal|last=Dodd|first=Stephen|date=Summer 2020|title=The Transformation of Identity in Contemporary Japanese Fiction|url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02690055.2020.1721153|journal=Wasafiri, International Contemporary Writing|volume= 35, No 2, 2020|issue=2|pages=87–104|doi=10.1080/02690055.2020.1721153|s2cid=219664893|via=Taylor and Francis Online|url-access=subscription}}

Complementing this launch series, Red Circle Authors also publishes the Circle Editions imprint. Circle Editions publishes books about, on, and from Japan, spanning Japanese literature, publishing and culture.

This imprint was launched in 2024 with the publication of [https://www.redcircleauthors.com/our-books/kaleidoscope-japan/ Kaleidoscope Japan: A nation through the lens of literature], by one of the company’s co-founders, drawing on his experience within the world of Japanese letters.

Red Circle Authors' activities are managed from London.{{Cite web|url=https://mainichi.jp/articles/20190117/dde/014/070/014000c|title=人模様：日本の小説、海外に発信 リチャード・ネーサンさん、近谷浩二さん|website=毎日新聞|language=ja}} The group also has an office in Tokyo. It promotes its select curated group of contemporary Japanese and Japan-based authors and their creative works to the international publishing industry and readers from these two locations.{{Cite web|url=http://jwh.trannet.co.jp/news/view/78/Red_Circle_Authors_Limited|title=Business Partnership|date=30 June 2017|website=Japanese Writers' House}}{{Cite web|url=https://jwh.trannet.co.jp/news/view/86/It’s_official__The_Red_Circle_Factbook_is_now_an_‘Encyclopedia’|title=It's official: The Red Circle Factbook is now an Encyclopaedia|date=30 March 2018|website=Japanese Writers' House}}

In addition to its book publishing Red Circle publishes a magazine on its website, The Circle,{{Cite web|url=https://www.redcircleauthors.com/our-magazine/|title=The Circle, Red Circle's magazine, designed for everyone interested Japanese literature, culture and publishing|website=Red Circle Authors|publisher=Red Circle Authors|access-date=February 3, 2019}} which provides news, analysis and opinion on Japanese literature, writers, publishing, bookselling and culture.

{{reflist}}

• [https://www.redcircleauthors.com/ Official website]
• [https://www.redcircleauthors.com/our-magazine// The Circle]
• [https://www.redcircleauthors.com/factbook/// Red Circle Factbook]

Category:Book publishing companies based in London

Category:Publishing companies established in 2016

Category:British companies established in 2016

Category:Japanese-language mass media

Category:Japanese fiction