Red Circle Authors


Red Circle Authors is a British, London-based, publishing house that specialises in Japanese fiction.

Origins

Red Circle Authors was set up in 2016, by Richard Nathan and Koji Chikatani, to showcase Japan’s best creative writing. The Gutai group was the initial inspiration behind Red Circle Authors.
The Red Circle Authors group currently consists of:
Kazufumi Shiraishi,, Fuminori Nakamura,, Mitsuyo Kakuta, Takuji Ichikawa, Soji Shimada and Roger Pulvers.
Currently, only a limited number of literary works by Red Circle's authors are available outside Japan in translation. Despite this, many of Red Circle's authors have won literary awards in Japan including, for example, the Naoki Prize and the Akutagawa Prize ; and have had their works adapted for film and television in Japan.
Some of the group's authors already have well-established reputations in Asia and are starting to win international literary prizes. Fuminori Nakamura, for instance, won the David L. Goodis Award in 2014.

Imprint and series

Red Circle Authors' publishing imprint is Red Circle.
Red Circle Authors launched this imprint and publishing programme on 23 November 2018 with the launch of its first series Red Circle Minis and the publication of its first three Minis:
Stand-In Companion by Kazufumi Shiraishi, Backlight by Kanji Hanawa and Tokyo Performance by Roger Pulvers
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", a longtime tradition in Japan.

Activities

Red Circle Authors' activities are managed from London. 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.
In addition to its book publishing Red Circle publishes a magazine on its website, The Circle, which provides news, analysis and opinion on Japanese literature, writers, publishing, bookselling and culture.