The translator of our October Book of the Month talks about the impact of being shortlisted for the International Booker Prize in 2022, the Japanese fiction boom – and why this 20th-century novel speaks to 21st-century readers
Book of the Month: The Memory Police by Yoko Ogawa, translated by Stephen Snyder
Book of the Month: The Memory Police by Yoko Ogawa, translated by Stephen Snyder
- Published
In 2020, The Memory Police was shortlisted for the International Booker Prize. Written by Yoko Ogawa, one of Japan’s greatest writers, and translated by Stephen Snyder, it’s a haunting fable about the power of memory and the trauma of loss
To the people on the island, a disappeared thing no longer has any meaning. It can be burned in the garden, thrown in the river or handed over to the Memory Police. Soon enough, the island forgets it ever existed. When a novelist discovers her editor is in danger of being detained by the Memory Police, she desperately wants to save him. For some reason, he doesn’t forget, and it becomes increasingly difficult for him to hide his memories. Who knows what will vanish next?
From reading guides to extracts, find out more about our October Book of the Month here.
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The Memory Police
- By
- Yoko Ogawa
- Translated by
- Stephen Snyder
- Published by
- Harvill Secker
A beautiful, haunting and provocative fable about the power of memory and the trauma of loss from Yoko Ogawa, one of Japan’s greatest writers