Yasushi Machida, *Hosanna* Five years in the making. A masterpiece of a novel that questions the essence of humanity. Following *Confession* and *Inn Pilgrimage*, a new representative work by Yasushi Machida is born! Hosanna. Save us. It all began with a barbecue party for dog lovers. My dog and I are somehow drawn into an absurd world. Glory and salvation. Curses and prayers. A great novel that can be called a modern-day super-abridged Bible, brought to the lost people! Hikaru Okizumi, *Snow Stairs* 1935. Saeko Sasamiya, the daughter of a peerage family, begins to question the double suicide of her close friend, Hisako, who was found dead with an army officer in the Aokigahara forest at the foot of Mount Fuji. How could Hisako, who died on Mount Fuji, have sent a postcard postmarked from Sendai? A new death appears before Saeko, who is tracing Hisako's footsteps, and her childhood friend Chiyoko, who plays the role of a detective... A mystery romance set on the eve of the February 26th Incident. Osamu Hashimoto, *Kusanagi's Sword* With six men as protagonists, each 10 years apart in age, from 62 to 12 years old, and tracing back to their parents and grandparents, this novel depicts their respective lives, following the trajectory of the Japanese people who lived through the defeat in World War II, the period of rapid economic growth, the oil crisis, the end of the Showa era, the collapse of the bubble economy, and two major earthquakes. A lifelong novel that fundamentally reexamines the state of the present, which is the culmination of post-war Japan. A 40th-anniversary work of the author's debut. The 71st Noma Literary Prize. Mari Yonehara, *Liar Anya's Crimson Truth* In 1960, Mari, a fourth-grade elementary school student, was in a Soviet school in Prague. Litza, a Greek, teaches her how to spot men and about sex. Anya, a Romanian, is loved by everyone despite being a hopeless liar, and Yasminca, a Yugoslavian, is the top student in the class. Thirty years later, Mari finally reunites with them in the turbulent Eastern Europe, and what is the truth she encounters...? The Ohya Soichi Non-Fiction Award.