Collections#
| Title |
Published |
Buy on Amazon |
| Where Europe Begins |
1991 |
Buy |
| Facing the Bridge |
2007 |
Buy |
| Memoirs of a Polar Bear |
2014 |
Buy |
| 3 Streets |
2021 |
Buy |
Non-Fiction#
| Title |
Published |
Buy on Amazon |
| Exophony: Voyages Outside the Mother Tongue |
2025 |
Buy |
Short Stories/Novellas#
| Title |
Published |
Buy on Amazon |
| The Bridegroom Was a Dog |
1993 |
Buy |
Standalone Novels#
| Title |
Published |
Buy on Amazon |
| The Naked Eye |
2004 |
Buy |
| Portrait of a Tongue |
2013 |
Buy |
| The Last Children of Tokyo |
2014 |
Buy |
| The Emissary |
2014 |
Buy |
| Suggested in the Stars |
2020 |
Buy |
| Paul Celan and the Trans-Tibetan Angel |
2024 |
Buy |
Trilogy Reading Order#
| Title |
Published |
Buy on Amazon |
| Scattered All Over the Earth |
2018 |
Buy |
| 地球にちりばめられて |
2018 |
N/A |
| Suggested in the Stars |
2020 |
Buy |
| Archipelago of the Sun |
2025 |
Buy |
Yoko Tawada was born in Tokyo in 1960 and moved to Hamburg, Germany, in 1982. She has built a career writing in two languages, producing novels and stories in both Japanese and German. Her work often follows characters who find themselves displaced or caught between worlds, and she has won major prizes in both countries, including the Akutagawa Prize and the National Book Award for Translated Literature.
Her best-known English translations include The Emissary (also published as The Last Children of Tokyo), a dystopian novel set in a future Japan sealed off from the world, and the Trilogy, which begins with Scattered All Over the Earth. Tawada’s writing tends to be playful and strange, bending language to examine how people make sense of unfamiliar places. Her collections and nonfiction essays also deal with the gaps between tongues and the odd, sometimes funny things that happen when translation fails.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many books has Yōko Tawada written?
Yōko Tawada has written sixteen books across five series.
What was Yōko Tawada's first book?
Yōko Tawada’s first book is Where Europe Begins, published in 1991.
What language does Yoko Tawada write in?
Yoko Tawada writes in both Japanese and German, and many of her works have been translated into English. Her bilingual practice shapes much of her fiction, which often deals with the experience of living between languages and cultures.