Honobu Yonezawa


Honobu Yonezawa is a Japanese writer, best known for his young adult mystery series Kotenbu, also known as the Classic Literature Club series.
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Biography

Honobu Yonezawa was born in 1978 in the Gifu Prefecture.
From as young as he could remember, Yonezawa wanted to be a writer. At 11 years old, he wrote a sequel to H. G. Wells's The War of the Worlds, and started writing original novels in the second year of junior high school. In his second year of Kanazawa University studying literature, he started publishing his works on his site Hanmuden . His early work were diverse in genre, but Yonezawa was struck when he read Kaoru Kitamura's Flying Horse and Princess in Rokunomiya while in university, and decided to turn his attention to writing mysteries.
After graduating from university, Yonezawa convinced his parents to let him try and attain his dream of writing a novel for two years. He got a job as a bookstore clerk in Takayama while he continued writing on the side. In 2001, he officially debuted with the novel Hyōka, which received an honorable mention in the 5th Kadokawa Gakuen Novel Young Person Mystery and Horror Category Awards. His decision to submit was fueled by positive reception of Hyōka on his website Hanmuden, that he personally saw a future in the combination of light novels and mysteries, and because he was late for the deadline of another award. Hyōka became the first novel in a series dubbed the Classic Literature Club series, to be distributed by the newly established Sneaker Mystery Club within the Kadokawa Sneaker Bunko imprint. Hyōka was soon followed with Gusha no Endorōru in 2002.
However, when Yonezawa had completed the draft for the third and what he intended to be the final book in the Classic Literature Club series, the label was going on hiatus due to changing trends in the market, so he could not get it published. Despite this, he was approached by Tokyo Sogensha who inquired what he was working on, thanks partly to recommendations from writers Kiyoshi Kasai and Kazuki Sakuraba. When he explained the situation to the publisher, they asked to see the draft and after a few days they requested rights to publish it. After discussions between Kadokawa, Tokyo Sogensha and Yonezawa, they agreed to have the novel published, and after changing details such as the characters and the setting, Sayonara Yōsei was published in 2004. It was featured in the magazine Kono Mystery ga Sugoi! in 2005, ranking 20th in the domestic category.
In the same year, he published Shunki Gentei Ichigo Taruto Jiken, the first novel of the Shōshimin series.
Around the same time, he moved from Gifu to Tōkyō.
In 2008, when Yonezawa published Hakanai Hitsuji tachi no Shukuen, he states that he started not only paying attention to the riddles present within his works, but also how they appeal to a wider audience. So when he published Oreta Ryūkotsu in 2010, which incorporated some fantasy elements to an otherwise classical mystery story, it won the 64th Mystery Writers of Japan Award for the following year.
In 2012, Kyoto Animation aired an anime adaptation of the Classic Literature Club series under the name of the first novel, Hyōka.
Since 2013, he has been on the selection committee for the Mysteries! Rookie of the Year Award.
In 2014, his short story collection Mangan was selected as one of the best mysteries in the Mystery ga Yomitai!, ''Shūkan Bunshun Mystery Best 10, and Kono Mystery ga Sugoi! It was ranked the top in domestic rankings and became the first book in history to receive three simultaneous rankings from different publications. It also won the 27th Yamamoto Shūgorō Prize and the 151st Naoki Prize.
In 2016, he was selected by literary magazine Granta in their Japanese edition as one of the Granta Best of Young Japanese Novelists.
In 2024, the first two novels of the Shōshimin Series were adapted into an anime produced by Lapin Track, and released under the name Shōshimin: How to Become Ordinary''.

Awards and nominations

Hyōka

Hyōka series (Classic Literature Club series)

  • Novels:
  • * Hyōka, 2001
  • * Gusha no Endorōru, 2002
  • * Kudoryafuka no Junban, 2005
  • * Futari no Kyori no Gaisan, 2010
  • Short story collections:
  • * Tōmawari Suru Hina, 2007
  • ** Yarubeki Koto nara Temijika ni
  • ** Taizai o Okasu
  • ** Shōtai Mitari
  • ** Kokoroatari no Aru Mono wa
  • ** Akimashite Omedetō
  • ** Tezukuri Chokorēto Jiken
  • ** Tōmawari Suru Hina
  • * Imasara Tsubasa to Iwaretemo, 2016
  • ** Hako no Naka no Ketsuraku
  • ** Kagami niwa Utsuranai
  • ** Renpō wa Harete Iru ka
  • ** Watashitachi no Densetsu no Issatu
  • ** Nagai kyūjitsu
  • ** Imasara Tsubasa to Iwaretemo

Shōshimin Series

  • Novels:
  • * Shunki Gentei Ichigo Taruto Jiken, 2004
  • * Kaki Gentei Toropikaru Pafe Jiken, 2006
  • * Shūki Gentei Kuri Kinton Jiken, 2009
  • * Tōki Gentei Bonbon Shokora Jiken, 2024
  • Short story collection:
  • * Pari Makaron no Nazo, 2020

Standalone mystery novels

Sayonara Yōsei, 2004Inu wa Doko da, 2005Botorunekku, 2006 Inshite Miru, 2007Hakanai Hitsuji tachi no Shukuen, 2008Tsuisō Godanshō, 2009Oreta Ryūkotsu, 2010Rikāshiburu, 2009Mangan, 2014Hon to Kagi no Kisetsu, 2018Ai no Higeki, 2019The Samurai and the Prisoner, 2021

Film adaptations