Nobel Prize-winning author Kazuo Ishiguro releases the first feature-length novel after receiving the award

The first feature-length novel after the award of Kazuo Ishiguro, a British writer from Nagasaki Prefecture who won the Nobel Prize in Literature four years ago, was released on the 2nd.

This is a work in which a robot, which is a playmate for children, appears and asks about the friendship between humans and AI = artificial intelligence.

Kazuo Ishiguro, who was born in Nagasaki Prefecture and moved to England with his family at the age of 5, became a world-class best-selling author after making his debut as a writer in 1982, and won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2017.

For the first time in six years since "The Buried Giant", Ishiguro's first feature-length novel "Clara and the Sun" was released all over the world on the 2nd, and a special feature with Japanese and English versions lined up. At the bookstore in Shinjuku, Tokyo, where the booth was set up, people who were waiting for the release were seen buying books.

This work is a story about a robot "Clara" equipped with AI, which was developed as a playmate for children, knowing the secret of the girl's family who became the owner, and devoting himself to the girl while being puzzled. We are asking about the ideal friendship between people and AI.

According to Hayakawa Publishing, the first edition of the Japanese version has 50,000 copies, and 15,000 copies have already been decided to be reprinted.

The bookstore clerk said, "There are many reservations and inquiries even before the release, and I feel that the expectations of readers are high. I think that it is a story that can be enjoyed without being aware of the work of the Nobel Prize winner in literature." Was there.

Message from Kazuo Ishiguro

Kazuo Ishiguro sent a video message on the release of "Clara and the Sun".

In this, Mr. Ishiguro said, "The narrator Clara is an'artificial best friend'developed to help teenagers grow up. At the beginning of the story, Clara is lined up in stores, and the person who will come out from now on. And begins to be interested in lonely humans, because Clara's important job in the human world is to heal the loneliness of others. "Don't do it" and "The Remains of the Day" flow. Please read it. "