Natsuo Kirino: Swallows

Natsuo Kirino’s complex feminist noir crime novels have awarded her cult status in Japan and abroad.

Her latest, Swallows, follows a woman led by economic desperation to become a surrogate mother, and an infertile couple desperate to pass on their ‘elite’ genes.

Kirsty Logan leads this incisive conversation with one of Japan’s literary lights about bodily autonomy, the injustices of class and gender, and what it means to be ‘in control’.Supported by The Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation.