Japanese Literary Awards

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Random House Kodansha Newcomer Award

らんだむはうすこうだんしゃしんじんしょう

A newcomer literary award sponsored by Random House Kodansha. Winning works are published in Japan and the United States.

Literary award
Established
2007
Organizer
Random House Kodansha
Category
General Fiction and Popular Fiction
Selection Method
Open call
Target
Newcomer
Frequency
1 per year
Status
Ended

Description

An open call newcomer literary award hosted by Random House Kodansha (later Takeda Random House Japan). Winning works were promised publication not only in Japan but also English translation and publication in the United States, and were published in B6 format.

Prize

Main Prize
Domestic publication of the winning work and English translation publication
  • Promise of English translation publication
  • Publication in B6 format

Official Resources

https://web.archive.org/web/20100209023405/http://www.randomhouse-kodansha.co.jp/

Past Winners

一村征吾 いちむら せいご award

マジックランタンサーカス is an award-winning work by 一村征吾. Published as a standalone book, it follows its characters' choices and the atmosphere surrounding them through the subject and voice recognized by the prize.

マジックランタンサーカス is a work by 一村征吾 recognized by the ランダムハウス講談社新人賞.

264 pages
relationshipsthe atmosphere of an erainner change
Momoe Melon ももえ めろん excellence award

表参道 EXIT A4 is a 2008 award-winning work by Momoe Melon. Centered on the subject suggested by its title, it can be introduced as a literary work that follows shifts in character and scene.

表参道 EXIT A4 is a work by Momoe Melon recognized by the ランダムハウス講談社新人賞.

relationshipsthe atmosphere of an erainner change
望月飛鳥 もちづき あすか award

A novel about Hiro, a Japanese woman living in Vietnam, and her relationship with Yun, a Vietnamese woman. It traces body, desire, and the unease of living away from home.

In tropical air, the distance between two women begins to shift.

240 pages
Vietnamrelationships between womenborder crossing
Terumi Ojima こじま てるみ excellence award

A novel wrapped in mythic images of sex and the body. In a secretive atmosphere, desire, bodily sensation, beauty, and pain are rendered in prose with the texture of a prose poem.

The myth of androgyny turns into a story of body and desire.

216 pages
androgynysex and the bodyfantasy
葉村亮介 はむら りょうすけ excellence award

A three-colored panda with a brown patch on its forehead suddenly arrives at the apartment of the idle Hamura. The irritable panda moves in and gradually reveals an inner darkness.

A grumpy three-colored panda sends strange ripples through everyday life.

240 pages
absurdityliving togetherfantasy