Feminist tales from Japan that blend humor, surrealism, and sharp societal critique, by the acclaimed author of Where the Wild Ladies Are 

A collection of fifty-two short stories and pieces of flash fiction, The Woman Dies takes as its impetus the various forms of discrimination entrenched within Japanese society, particularly the long, stubborn roots of sexism.   

Matsuda approaches often-thorny subjects such as the normalizing effect of violence against women on screen, or the aesthetics associated with technology, with an inventiveness and quirky humor that keep the narrative on the cusp between seriousness and levity.    

Wordplay evolves into something much more complex, inanimate objects are endowed with their own point of view, and hard-hitting feminist stances are conveyed with a dry, detached humor that makes them all the more uncompromising.  

Not so much a rollercoaster ride, rather an entire theme park, The Woman Dies is an out-of-the ordinary space readers will step into with feelings of wonder and discombobulation in equal parts.  

Aoko Matsuda
Aoko Matsuda is an award-winning Japanese writer and literary translator. In 2013, her debut book, Stackable, was nominated for the Mishima Yukio Prize and the Noma Literary New Face Prize. In 2019, her short story 'The Woman Dies', was shortlisted for the Shirley Jackson Award. In 2021, Her short story collection Where the Wild Ladies Are, published by Soft Skull Press, was nominated for the Ray Bradbury Prize sponsored by the LA Times, and won the Firecracker Award in the fiction category and the World Fantasy Award for Best Collection. This collection was also named by TIME and The New Yorker as one of the Best Fiction Books of 2020. She has translated work by Karen Russell, Amelia Gray and Carmen Maria Machado into Japanese.

• Jul 7 2025
  “Piercing and surreal.”
  — Publishers Weekly