Viking signs Japanese bestseller Sympathy Tower Tokyo by Rie Qudan

Viking has signed Japanese bestseller Sympathy Tower Tokyo, winner of the 2024 Akutagawa Prize, by Rie Qudan.

Editor Edward Kirke acquired world rights, excluding Asian languages, in an exclusive negotiation with Shinchosha, via Naomi Mizuno at Tuttle-Mori Agency. It will publish in trade paperback, audio and e-book in 2025. 

Sympathy Tower Tokyo tells of an alternate Japan, “in which the expression of radical sympathy toward crime has become normalised”, the publisher said. It follows female architect Sara Machina, tasked with designing a grand tower in the centre of Tokyo intended for innovative and compassionate imprisonment of criminals. “Riven by self-doubt and full of misgiving about the project, Sara eventually seeks solace in the words of an AI chatbot. Detailing the dissolving links between language and meaning, Sympathy Tower Tokyo is a Tower of Babel for the 21st century,” the publisher teased.  

In January, Sympathy Tower Tokyo was awarded Japan’s most prestigious literary honour, the Akutagawa Prize, making headlines around the world for its innovative use of AI: the short sections in the novel ‘written’ by a chatbot are taken from generative AI software.  

Kirke said: “Sympathy Tower Tokyo is a revelation: a propulsive, prophetic novel that provides a brilliant defence of the power of language written by humans, a touching exploration of the creative impulse, and an often hilarious send-up of our modern world’s unrelenting conformity. I couldn’t be more excited to be publishing this extraordinary book.” 

Qudan added: “What will happen to my story, written in Japanese for Japanese readers, when it is translated into a language other than Japanese? Maybe it will be the Tower of Babel all over again – the result is beyond my imagination. But the unimaginable has always been what excites me. It is with great faith and confidence that I hand the world rights for Sympathy Tower Tokyo to Viking UK.”