Diary of a Void: Emi Yagi in Conversation with Rowan Hisayo Buchanan

As the only woman in her office, Ms Shibata is expected to do all the menial tasks. One day she announces that she can't clear away her coworkers' dirty cups – because she's pregnant and the smell nauseates her. The only thing is... Ms Shibata is not pregnant. Before long, her ruse becomes all-absorbing and the boundary between her lie and her life begins to dissolve.

A page-turning social commentary and a striking account of female interiority, find out the story behind the hype.

Emi Yagi is an editor at a women's magazine in Japan. She was born in 1988 and lives in Tokyo. Diary of a Void is her first novel; it won the Osamu Dazai Prize, awarded annually to the best debut work of fiction.

Yagi will be in conversation with Rowan Hisayo Buchanan, the author of Harmless Like You, Starling Days and The Sleep Watcher. Rowan is a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. She has won The Authors’ Club First Novel Award and a Betty Trask Award and has been shortlisted for the Costa Novel Award. Her short work has appeared in several places including Granta, Guernica, The Guardian, The Harvard Review, and NPR’s Selected Shorts. She is the editor of the Go Home! and Dog Hearted anthologies.

This event is co-presented with the Japan Foundation in association with Vintage (Penguin Random House)

Doors will open from 6:45pm.

Tickets: £8 General Admission / £13 Book and Ticket, inc. a copy of Diary of a Void (RRP £9.99) Venue: The Auditorium (Level 6) at Foyles, 107 Charing Cross Road*

Please note that the Auditorium at Foyles is fully accessible from the Ground floor lifts.

Image Credits: Emi Yagi by Kitchen Minoru and Rowan Hisayo Buchanan by Sophie Davidson