ONLINE EVENT - The Japan Society Book Club: Set My Heart on Fire by Izumi Suzuki

Date
Monday 13 July 2026
Time
7.00pm (BST)
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Booking Details
Online meeting on Zoom
Please register for the meeting in advance from the link below. After registering, you will receive a automated confirmation email with meeting access details (please check your spam folder if you don't receive any emails).

Free for members of The Japan Society

Book available from Bookshop.org, Amazon and Waterstones (translated by Helen O'Horan)
Japanese version available here

Please help us to keep this event free and open to all! The Japan Society is a charity and its activities are made possible thanks to the support of its members. If you are planning to attend this event and are not a member (as an individual or through your employer), please consider becoming a member or making a donation if you can - the recommended donation is £5. Thank you!

Set My Heart on Fire portrays women navigating unstable relationships and emotional isolation in postwar Japan. Through stark, fragmented narratives, it depicts desire as obsessive and damaging, shaped by gendered expectations, power imbalances, and profound loneliness. The book offers an unflinching view of intimacy, vulnerability, and emotional survival in a deeply alienating urban landscape.

Izumi Suzuki (1949–1986) was a Japanese writer and actress closely associated with the countercultural and avant‑garde scenes of 1970s Tokyo. Her fiction is marked by a raw, ironic voice and a sustained preoccupation with gender, desire, alienation, and emotional extremity. She wrote across genres, from science fiction to autobiographical prose, often blurring the line between the two. Her major works include Terminal Boredom, Hit Parade of Tears, and the novel Set My Heart on Fire.

If you have any questions, please call The Japan Society office on 020 3075 1996 or email events@japansociety.org.uk.