Saou Ichikawa

2 weeks ago | asymptotejournal.com | Saou Ichikawa |

Hunchback by Saou Ichikawa, translated from the Japanese by Polly Barton, Hogarth, 2025Saou Ichikawa is the first disabled author to win the prestigious Akutagawa prize. The protagonist of her prize-winning novella, Hunchback, translated from the Japanese by Polly Barton, is Shaka, a woman who shares the same disability as the author herself: myotubular myopathy—a condition where the muscles can’t grow, preventing heart and lungs from maintaining normal oxygen saturation levels.

Mar 18, 2025 | entertainment-mag.com | Saou Ichikawa |

HUNCHBACK, by Saou Ichikawa; translated by Polly BartonShaka Izawa, the narrator of the Japanese author Saou Ichikawa’s slim and formidable debut novel, “Hunchback,” writes porn from her room in the group care facility where she has lived since she was 14. Like the author, she suffers from myotubular myopathy, a rare genetic disorder that causes grave muscular weakness; her lungs are compressed by the weight of a body she can’t hold up.

Mar 17, 2025 | bookshop.org | Saou Ichikawa |

Celebrate Women's History Month with 20% off these select books.

Mar 17, 2025 | datebook.sfchronicle.com | Saou Ichikawa |

On July 19, 2023, Saou Ichikawa won Japan's prestigious Akutagawa Prize for her short but mighty debut novel, "Hunchback" - making her the first disabled person to be given the honor in the award's 90-year history. Like the novel's main character Shaka Izawa, Ichikawa has a congenital muscular condition called myotubular myopathy.

Mar 17, 2025 | nytimes.com | Elizabeth McKenzie |Saou Ichikawa |

HUNCHBACK, by Saou Ichikawa; translated by Polly BartonShaka Izawa, the narrator of the Japanese author Saou Ichikawa's slim and formidable debut novel, "Hunchback," writes porn from her room in the group care facility where she has lived since she was 14. Like the author, she suffers from myotubular myopathy, a rare genetic disorder that causes grave muscular weakness; her lungs are compressed by the weight of a body she can't hold up.