Meet Hiromi Kawakami at Bogforum 2026

In Denmark, Hiromi Kawakami is perhaps best known for Strange Weather in Tokyo, the acclaimed novel about Tsukiko, a 37‑year‑old woman who enters into a relationship with her former high school teacher. A love story, one might say – yet, as is often the case with Kawakami, marked by ambivalence, what remains unsaid, and a quiet sense of solitude.

There is a distinctive calm to Kawakami’s novels. She has a rare sensitivity to the beauty of human relationships, but also to surroundings: the changing seasons, Tokyo, a carefully prepared meal. All of this she renders with a lightness of language that can leave the reader quietly entranced.

Under the Eye of the Big Bird is set in a distant future where humanity is struggling for survival. In a masterful way, the novel becomes a prism through which some of the most pressing issues of our time are explored: reproduction, ecology, evolution, artificial intelligence, love, and the future of humankind. It is timely literature of the highest order.

The novel gained significant international attention when it was shortlisted for the International Booker Prize and is shaping up to be one of the year’s most important releases – perhaps Kawakami’s most accomplished work to date, and undoubtedly a bold new departure in her writing.

We look forward to welcoming Hiromi Kawakami to Bogforum 2026.

Information about the day on which you can experience Hiromi Kawakami at Bogforum will be announced later in the year.