An extract from Hunchback by Saou Ichikawa, translated by Polly Barton
A literary phenomenon in Japan, Hunchback is an extraordinary and thrilling debut novel about sex, disability and power
Saou Ichikawa
Saou Ichikawa is a novelist from Japan
She graduated from the School of Human Sciences, Waseda University. Her debut novel, Hunchback, a bestseller in Japan, won the 128th Bungakukai Prize for New Writers and the 169th Akutagawa Prize. In the UK, it was longlisted for the International Booker Prize 2025.
Ichikawa is the first author with a physical disability to receive the Akutagawa Prize, Japan’s premier literary award. She has congenital myopathy, and uses a ventilator and an electric wheelchair.
This unashamed, unflinching and subversive novel defiantly dismantles assumptions about disability and desire
— The 2025 judges on Hunchback
All nominated books
A literary phenomenon in Japan, Hunchback is an extraordinary and thrilling debut novel about sex, disability and power
