[Nominated for Akutagawa Prize!] Emi Yagi's 'Anti-Good Morning' Selected as Candidate for the 175th Akutagawa Prize

Emi Yagi's third novel, 'Anti-Good Morning,' has been nominated for the 175th Akutagawa Ryunosuke Prize (organized by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Literature). Yagi gained international attention with her debut work, 'Diary of a Void' (published by Chikuma Shobo), which has been translated in 26 countries and regions. The selection committee for the 175th Akutagawa and Naoki Prizes will convene on Wednesday, July 15, 2026, to decide the winners.

'Anti-Good Morning' was featured in the Spring 2026 issue of 'Bungei,' and the book version is scheduled for release on June 29, 2026.

An 'Insomnia' Adventure Rebelling Against Modern Society's Positive-Supremacy

The protagonist, Nogami, an office worker, has been suffering from insomnia for about eight months, to the point of losing herself and expressing extreme sentiments like, 'I'd rather die if it meant I could sleep.'

Her company is health-conscious and enforces strict internal rules to pursue employee 'well-being':

Rule 1: Instant response to chats. Rule 2: Always use positive stamps! Rule 3: Problem-solving is more important than criticism!

At home, her only supposed place of rest, her kind husband pushes meticulous meals on her to 'help cure her insomnia together' and even rents a therapeutic chicken named 'Chappy.' However, her insomnia does not improve.

Amidst this, she meets an instructor named Kaku Defuyu through a company e-learning video, who makes an offer from across the screen: 'If you give me a little of your soul, I will let you sleep.'

'Anti-Good Morning' is the latest work by Emi Yagi, who depicted a quiet lie of feigned pregnancy in her debut 'Diary of a Void' and a refuge of the heart set in a closed art museum in her second work, 'The Women on the Closed Day.' It is packed with relatable struggles of office workers living in modern times.

It is an 'insomnia' adventure novel about a woman angered by the web of 'positivity' trying to manage her, attempting to escape from a sanitized modern society.

About the Author

Emi Yagi (born 1988, Nagano Prefecture). Debuted in 2020 after winning the 36th Dazai Osamu Prize for 'Diary of a Void.' The book has been translated into 26 languages, and the English translation received acclaim from The New York Times and the New York Public Library as a top book of the year. In 2024, she won the 12th Kawai Hayao Story Prize for 'The Women on the Closed Day.'

Bibliographic Information

Title: Anti-Good Morning Author: Emi Yagi Specifications: 46 size / Hardcover / 184 pages Release Date: June 29, 2026 Price: 1,870 yen (main unit 1,700 yen) ISBN: 978-4-309-03275-7 Binding: Jun Kawana