Status Active Publication types Books Number of employees 34 (as of February 2011) | Country of origin Japan Founded February 1948 | |
Fiction genres Mystery, Science fiction, Fantasy, Horror, Social science No. of employees 34 (as of February 2011) Headquarters locations Iidabashi, Tokyo, Japan, Japan | ||
Tokyo Sogensha Co., Ltd. (東京創元社, Tokyo Sōgensha) is a Japanese publisher of mystery fiction, science fiction, fantasy, literary fiction and social science, based in Tokyo.
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History
Tokyo Sogensha began as the Tokyo branch of a publisher called Sōgensha of Osaka in 1925 and spun off in 1948.
Imprints
Sōgen Suiri Bunko（Sogen Mystery Bunko）, started in 1959, is one of the leading Bunkobon (small-format paperback) labels focusing on mystery, science fiction, fantasy, and horror. Originally the label specialized in translation and entered the field of Japanese works in 1984.
Science Fiction
As a science fiction publisher, Tokyo Sogensha began with the translation of Fredric Brown's works as a division of Sōgen Suiri Bunko in 1963. The division and its continuation, which was renamed as Sōgen SF Bunko in 1991, are Japan's oldest existing Sci-Fi bunkobon label, publishing over 600 books until April 2013 including the works of Arthur C. Clarke, Isaac Asimov, Robert A. Heinlein, Ray Bradbury, J. G. Ballard, Philip K. Dick, Lois McMaster Bujold, Vernor Vinge, James P. Hogan, Kim Stanley Robinson, Robert Charles Wilson, and Greg Egan. It scored early success in the post-war period with the Barsoom books of Edgar Rice Burroughs and the words of E. E. Smith.
Originally Tokyo Sogensha specialized in translation and entered the field of Japanese works in 2007.
Recognition
Tokyo Sogensha won the Seiun Award for Best Translated Novel for 17 works out of 47 times (as of 2016); the Nihon SF Taisho Award in 2012 and 2013 for Japanese Works.
Horror/Fantasy
Notable authors published by Tokyo Sogensha include Shirley Jackson, H. P. Lovecraft and Edgar Allan Poe.
Prizes
Tokyo Sogensha awards some prizes for unpublished Japanese works to recruit new writers of specific genres: