영어속독(200단어)--Sparking Diversity of Thought through Our Work<1>

Boiling Up New Appetites

The Japan Booksellers' Award is now in its 13th year. I was one of the founders of the award, and still serve on its executive committee. This year the award went to Hitsuji to Hagane no Mori (A forest of sheep and steel) by Natsu Miyashita, who attended Sophia ahead of me. I am doubly delighted because the novel, which had a print run of 7,500 copies in the first edition, has become a bestseller running to 500,000 copies as of June 2016, and demonstrating the fitting success of the Booksellers' Award.

 

It all started when we were creating a website for Hon no Zasshisha, a publisher where Yoshitsugu Sugie, another founder of the Booksellers' Award, worked. We heard a lot of booksellers saying, "If I were a member of the Naoki Prize selection committee, I would have chosen this book rather than the one that won the prize." I was prompted to help establish the award by the thought that if we could fulfill booksellers' wishes by setting up such a prize, they could sell more of the books they wanted to sell, and as an advertising exec I sensed new appetites and needs. I also thought my experience at Hakuhodo in design, web production, and event organization would be useful. (214 words)

 

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