Kanae Minato

Kanae Minato studied at Mukogawa Women's University. The recorded working language is Japanese. The field of work recorded is creative and professional writing and detective literature. Residence is recorded at Sumoto. Works named in the authority record are Confessions, Penance, The Snow White Murder Case and Hana no Kusari. Distinctions recorded are Yamamoto Shūgorō Prize.

• Name — Kanae Minato • Born — 1973 • Birthplace — Innoshima, Hiroshima, Japan • Occupation — Writer • Language — Japanese • Period — 2007–present • Genre — Crime fiction, thriller • Awards — Japanese Booksellers Award (2009) Mystery Writers of Japan Award (2012)

She started writing in her thirties. Her first novel Confessions became a bestseller and won the Japanese Booksellers Award. In youth she was an avid fan of mystery novels of Edogawa Ranpo, Maurice Leblanc, Agatha Christie, Keigo Higashino, Miyuki Miyabe and Yukito Ayatsuji. She has been described in Japan as "the queen of iyamisu." Iyamisu (eww mystery) is a subgenre of mystery fiction which deals with grisly episodes and the dark side of human nature. The term was created in 2006 by the mystery critic Aoi Shimotsuki. There has been an iyamisu boom in Japan since around 2012. Kanae Minato, Mahokaru Numata and Yukiko Mari are regarded as representatives of the genre in Japan. The back cover blurb of the Japanese edition of Gone Girl, published in June 2013, was "One of the best iyamisu novels from overseas." The English edition of Minato's Confessions, published in August 2014, was described by a critic as "the Gone Girl of Japan." Wall Street Journal selected Confessions as one of the 10 best mysteries of 2014.

• Confessions (original title: Kokuhaku), trans. Stephen Snyder (Mulholland Books, 2014), • Penance (original title: Shokuzai), trans. Philip Gabriel (Mulholland Books, 2017),

• Kokuhaku, 2008 (Confessions) • Shōjo, 2009 (Girls) • Shokuzai, 2009 (Expiation) • Enu no Tame ni, 2010 (For N) • Yakō Kanransha, 2010 (The Night Ferris Wheel) • Hana no Kusari, 2011 (The Chain of Flowers) • Kyōgū, 2011 (Circumstances) • Shirayukihime Satsujin Jiken, 2012 (The Snow White Murder Case) • Bosei, 2012 (Motherhood) • Kōkō Nyūshi, 2013 (An Entrance Examination for a High School) • Mame no Ue de Nemuru, 2014 (Sleep on a Bean) • Yama Onna Nikki, 2014 (Mountain Woman Diary) • Monogatari no Owari, 2014 (The End of the Story) • Zesshō, 2015 • Reverse, 2015 (Reverse) • Utopia, 2015 • Mirai, 2018 (Future) • Broadcast, 2018 • Rakujitsu, 2019 (Sunset) • Kakera, 2020 (Fragment) • Ningen Hyōhon, 2023 • Akeboshi, 2025 (The Star at Dawn)