Hiroko Oyamada. Born in Hiroshima in 1983, she is one of the most prestigious Japanese writers today. With Kōjō (The Factory), she received the Shincho Award for New Writers in 2010. In 2013 she won the Oda Sakunosuke Award for the collection of short stories included in this book. With Ana (The Hole) she received the 150th Akutagawa Award, the most prestigious in Japan.

Her work, influenced by Vargas Llosa, Haruki Murakami and Franz Kafka, overflows with a style that is as personal as it is resounding and unsettling.

Oyamada has an uncanny ability to write fantasy in a realistic setting. Hiromi Kawakami