Novelist Otani becomes Japan's 1st to win British crime writing award

A Japanese novelist on Thursday became her country's first to win a major British award for crime and mystery writing, highlighting a boom in the popularity of translated Japanese fiction.Akira Otani was given the best translated crime novel prize at the Dagger Awards for "The Night of Baba Yaga," beating out five shortlisted competitors including fellow Japanese author Asako Yuzuki."I'm in complete shock. My head is kind of upside down," Otani, 44, said during an award ceremony through an interpreter.Otani also told reporters that she has known about the Dagger Awards since she was young a…READ FULL ARTICLE