Fumio Yamamoto – författare

Now offered in translation for the first time, this collection featuring women navigating societal expectations (and their small rebellions) is a classic.Boston Globe

A spiky, edgy collection of five sly yet sensitive stories spotlighting clear-eyed and difficult women who are navigating their identities as workers and women in contemporary Japana feminist, anti-capitalist modern classic published outside Asia and in English for the first time.

The Dilemmas of Working Women is Fumio Yamamotos darkly witty look at modern Japanese women who are ambivalent about their lives and jobs. In Naked, a woman whos simultaneously lost her business and her husband finds that it is surprisingly comfortable to stay at home sewing stuffed animals, even if it makes her a loser in the eyes of society. In Planarian, a young woman recovering from breast cancer tells her friends and boyfriend that she would prefer to be the titular worm to organically regenerate her body. Each of these spiky womenas well as the three other protagonists in this groundbreaking workchafes against social expectations that equate work with worth and demand women squeeze into the confining and sometimes dehumanizing role of employee in a world built by and for men.

First published in Japan in 2000, The Dilemmas of Working Women struck a nerve with Japanese readers and became a bestselling literary sensation, selling nearly half a million copies and winning the prestigious Naoki Prize in Literature. A quarter of a century later, this brilliant modern classicavailable for the first time outside Asia and in Englishremains deliciously funny and astonishingly relevant.

Translated from the Japanese by Brian Bergstrom

The classic Japanese bestseller published in English for the very first time - a darkly funny and relatable book portraying the lives of five women''Witty, wise and thought-provoking'' Cecelia Ahern''Crackles and pops with humour, empathy and intelligence'' Lisa Owens, author of Not Working''So brilliantly written that I kept trying to memorise sentences in order to repeat them to people later'' Roxy Dunn, author of As Young as ThisIzumi needs to get a job. Haruka needs to stop talking about how she once had cancer. Katō needs to get through a shift at the convenience store without being harassed. Mito needs to break up with her boyfriend - or marry him. Sumie just needs somewhere to live. In this classic Japanese bestseller, published in English twenty-five years after it took Japan by storm, the lives of five ordinary women are depicted with irresistible humour and searing emotional insight.