Set in 1999 Japan, Satellite Love is a heartbreaking and beautifully unconventional debut novel about a girl, a boy, and a satellite–and a bittersweet meditation on loneliness, alienation, and what it means to be human.
In celebration of the launch of Satellite Love, author Genki Ferguson is in conversation with special guest Kevin Chong, author of The Plague, where they discuss relationships to technology, Japanese literature, process, and more.
Watch the event below.
During this talk, Genki Ferguson discusses a number of authors important to his practice. Genki has shared the following notes with us:
Yasunari Kawabata, Nobel Prize winner, writing in post-war Japan. Snow Country, a tale of doomed love, was a big influence in terms of the atmosphere for Satellite Love.
Natsume Soski, considered the first “modern” Japanese author. Kokoro, the story of a student and his teacher, is considered his masterpiece.
Osamu Dazai, a deeply troubled author, also post-war Japan. Composed his opus No Longer Human shortly before taking his own life.
Mieko Kawakami, contemporary author who writes about tender family dynamics and the lives of the working class in Japan.
Sayaka Murata, another contemporary author, writes really weird, form breaking fiction. Definitely recommend her for people who like Satellite Love.
Yoko Ogawa, also contemporary, writes with elegant, distinct prose about connection, loss. Memory Police is fantastic.
And local author Eddy Boudel Tan! After Elias was phenomenal, and I’m really looking forward to The Rebellious Tide to be released in 2021.