Editing Asako Yuzuki (section)

==Career==

===Early work and debut===

In 2008 Yuzuki won the 88th All Yomimono Prize for New Writers for the short story "Forget Me, Not Blue", a story set in a Protestant all-girls school in Tokyo dealing with themes of bullying and female social dynamics. The story was first published in the literary magazine ''All Yomimono'' and later collected with three other connected stories into the volume ''Shūten no ano ko'' (終点のあの子, ''That Girl at the End of the Line''), published in 2010 as her debut book.

In 2011 her novel ''Nageki no bijo'' (嘆きの美女, ''Lamenting Beauty''), about a woman who becomes frustrated with the prevalence of attractive people online and attempts to vandalize a beauty website, was published by Asahi Shimbun. It was subsequently adapted into an NHK BS Premium television comedy series starring Akiko Yada.

===Breakthrough and Naoki Prize nominations===

Yuzuki published several novels in 2013, including ''Ōhi no kikan'' (王妃の帰還, ''Return of the Queen''), ''Ranchi no Akko-chan'' (ランチのアッコちゃん), and ''Itō-kun A to E'' (伊藤くん A to E), a series of linked short stories about different women each involved with the same man. ''Itō-kun A to E'' received Yuzuki's first nomination for the Naoki Prize (150th). It was later adapted into the 2017 romantic comedy television series ''The Many Faces of Ito'', starring Fumino Kimura and directed by Ryūichi Hiroki, and a theatrical film version was also released.

Her 2014 novel ''Honya-san no Daiana'' (本屋さんのダイアナ, ''Diana the Book Clerk''), published by Shinchosha, chronicles a years-long friendship between two girls from different backgrounds and received her second Naoki Prize nomination (151st).

In 2015 Yuzuki published ''Nairu pāchi no joshikai'' (ナイルパーチの女子会) through Bungeishunjū. The novel, a story about two women whose lives intersect as one blackmails the other, won the 28th Yamamoto Shūgorō Prize and received a third Naoki Prize nomination (153rd).

===''Butter'' and international recognition===

In 2017 Yuzuki published ''BUTTER'', a novel loosely inspired by the real-life case of Kanae Kijima, a woman convicted of luring and murdering middle-aged men. The novel's protagonist is a journalist investigating a female suspect accused of seducing men with her cooking. ''BUTTER'' received Yuzuki's fourth Naoki Prize nomination (157th).

When ''Butter'' was translated into English by Polly Barton and published in 2024, it became an international sensation. It reached bestseller lists in the United Kingdom and United States, was named Waterstones Book of the Year 2024, and won the British Book Awards 2025 Debut Fiction Award in the translated fiction category. The novel was widely praised for its intertwining of food, feminism, and psychological suspense, and drew comparisons to the work of Patricia Highsmith and Ruth Rendell.

===''Hooked'' in English translation===

The English translation of ''Nairu pāchi no joshikai'', published as ''Hooked: A Novel of Obsession'' and again translated by Polly Barton, was released on March 17, 2026, by Ecco/HarperCollins in the United States and 4th Estate in the United Kingdom. Though an earlier novel than ''Butter'', it reached English-language readers as Yuzuki's second translated work. It was named a most anticipated book of 2026 by ''The New York Times'', ''The Guardian'', ''Forbes'', ''Oprah Daily'', ''Lit Hub'', and ''Publishers Weekly''.