Asako Yuzuki
| Asako Yuzuki | |
| 柚木 麻子 | |
| Born | August 2, 1981 Tokyo, Japan |
| Occupation | Novelist |
| Language | Japanese |
| Nationality | Japanese |
| Education | Rikkyo University (French literature) |
| Notable works | Butter; Hooked: A Novel of Obsession |
| Notable awards | All Yomimono Prize for New Writers (2008) Yamamoto Shūgorō Prize (2015) Waterstones Book of the Year (2024) British Book Awards Debut Fiction (2025) |
Asako Yuzuki (柚木 麻子, Yuzuki Asako; born August 2, 1981) is a Japanese novelist. She is best known internationally for Butter (2017), whose 2024 English translation by Polly Barton became an international bestseller, was named Waterstones Book of the Year 2024, and won the British Book Awards 2025 Debut Fiction Award. Her novel Nairu pāchi no joshikai (ナイルパーチの女子会, 2015), translated into English as Hooked: A Novel of Obsession (2026), won the 28th Yamamoto Shūgorō Prize. She has been nominated multiple times for the Naoki Prize, and several of her novels have been adapted for television, radio, and film.
Life
Yuzuki was born in Tokyo on August 2, 1981. During her early school years she was an avid reader of translated fiction, including Beverly Cleary's Ramona series, Anne of Green Gables, and the young adult novels of Judy Blume. While in junior high school she experienced a serious illness, and during her recovery she read Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto, an encounter she has credited with redirecting her toward Japanese literature.
She later attended Rikkyo University, where she studied French literature. Her senior thesis was on Honoré de Balzac. After graduating she took a position at a confectionery company, but eventually left to pursue writing full time.
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.
Themes and style
Yuzuki's fiction consistently centres on women navigating the social, professional, and intimate pressures of contemporary Japanese life. Recurring concerns include female loneliness and the difficulty of sustaining female friendship; the impossible and contradictory demands placed on women by family, workplace, and society; food as a site of power, pleasure, and control; and the ways in which desire and admiration can curdle into obsession. Her prose is characteristically calm and precise, building psychological tension through accumulation and close observation of everyday detail rather than overt dramatic incident. Critics have frequently situated her work alongside that of Sayaka Murata and Banana Yoshimoto, noting a shared preoccupation with social conformity and interior life.
Her academic grounding in French literature — and in Balzac in particular — is often cited as an influence on her interest in social stratification and the tension between individual desire and societal expectation.
Works
Novels and story collections (Japanese)
| Year | Japanese title | Romanization | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 終点のあの子 | Shūten no ano ko | Debut collection; includes "Forget Me, Not Blue" (All Yomimono Prize, 2008) |
| 2011 | 嘆きの美女 | Nageki no bijo | Adapted for NHK BS Premium television |
| 2013 | 王妃の帰還 | Ōhi no kikan | |
| 2013 | ランチのアッコちゃん | Ranchi no Akko-chan | |
| 2013 | 伊藤くん A to E | Itō-kun A to E | Naoki Prize nomination (150th); adapted for television and film |
| 2014 | 本屋さんのダイアナ | Honya-san no Daiana | Naoki Prize nomination (151st) |
| 2015 | ナイルパーチの女子会 | Nairu pāchi no joshikai | Yamamoto Shūgorō Prize (28th); Naoki Prize nomination (153rd); translated as Hooked (2026) |
| 2017 | バター | BUTTER | Naoki Prize nomination (157th); translated as Butter (2024) |
Works in English translation
| Year | English title | Translator | Publisher |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | Butter | Polly Barton | Ecco / HarperCollins (US); 4th Estate (UK) |
| 2026 | Hooked: A Novel of Obsession | Polly Barton | Ecco / HarperCollins (US); 4th Estate (UK) |
Awards and honours
- All Yomimono Prize for New Writers (88th, 2008) — Won, for "Forget Me, Not Blue"
- Naoki Prize (150th, 2013) — Nominated, for Itō-kun A to E
- Naoki Prize (151st, 2014) — Nominated, for Honya-san no Daiana
- Yamamoto Shūgorō Prize (28th, 2015) — Won, for Nairu pāchi no joshikai
- Naoki Prize (153rd, 2015) — Nominated, for Nairu pāchi no joshikai
- Naoki Prize (157th, 2017) — Nominated, for BUTTER
- Waterstones Book of the Year (2024) — Won, for the English translation of Butter
- British Book Awards, Debut Fiction Award (2025) — Won, for the English translation of Butter
See also
- Butter (Yuzuki novel)
- Hooked: A Novel of Obsession
- Polly Barton
- Yamamoto Shūgorō Prize
- Naoki Prize
- Japanese literature in translation
- Banana Yoshimoto
- Sayaka Murata
References
External links
- Asako Yuzuki at Wikipedia
- Asako Yuzuki at Goodreads
- Reviews of Hooked at Book Marks