Praise for Li Kotomi
“With her powerful voice, Kotomi blows a fresh, new breeze into the often introverted world of contemporary Japanese literature.” —Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology
Praise for Solo Dance
“It takes only a moment for the idea of death to spark in a heart pushed to its limits. All that remains is that spark and the deep breathing of our narrator who has had to live in the dark. The vicious pain that squirms beautifully at the heart of this novel holds an incredible power, perhaps becoming a salvation for the reader.” —Sayaka Murata, author of Convenience Store Woman
“This poetic fable about finding one’s place in the world and escaping the pull of death is ambitious and thought-provoking.” —The Japan Times
"In Li Kotomi’s empathetic novel Solo Dance, a young woman struggles to find her place in a world that is hostile to her sexual identity. A moving character study about the consequences of homophobia, and the resilience that’s required to survive it." —Foreword Reviews
“Solo Dance has no illusions that in the present day, the implicit and explicit violence of homophobia still leaves lasting scars on young queer people. But, ultimately, this is a book about being able to integrate one’s trauma in a world where acceptance, while not universal, can be found. Being queer and Asian continues to be a fraught reality for so many people. But in spite of all the pain and trauma, Solo Dance is a testament to the possibility of a path forward that exists for queer Asians today. ”—Autostraddle
"Solo Dance is a book that brings up several interesting themes: queerness, emigration, abuse, trauma, and death. It is the story of a young Taiwanese woman living in Japan and dealing with a lot of the things most people deal with in their twenties, from failed relationships to trying to figure out the meaning of life. But it is also about a main character who goes through several changes, and losses, and who is deeply aware of the role of death in life. Beautifully written too." —Book Riot Best Books of 2022
“Elegantly translated from the Japanese by Arthur Reiji Morris … Solo
Dance’s depiction of mental illness is powerfully affecting and
memorable. … The writing is beautiful and lyrical in its depictions of the
shared sadness and love of Xiaoxue and Yingmei.”—Words Without Borders
"Solo Dance isn’t a hopeful book, at least in the most conventional sense. It is, perhaps, an uplifting one in its quiet reassurance that the self matters. It is an important book by a queer author in Japan who isn’t ethnically Japanese tackling identity and mental health. And it is, certainly, a work of art as both a book and a translation." —Asian Review of Books
"A moving story about contemporary queer life in Japan and Taiwan, workplace culture, and healing from trauma." —BookRiot
“This book is carried by the literary traditions which the author has taken into her very being, along with an energy fostered by the breaking of cultural and linguistic barriers.” —Kan Nozaki
“In an era where everyone is perhaps too connected, we are forced to consider the importance of the solitude, not loneliness, that is depicted in this novel.” —Alisa Iwakawa, Gunzo
“Her knowledge of Taiwanese, Chinese, and Japanese literature, as well as the inevitability of her becoming a writer is evident in her work, and I look forward to her future career.” —Masaaki Takeda, Shunkan Shincho
“A striking debut from a young Taiwanese author, which follows the struggles and loneliness of a young woman, from her secret high-school love, to the incident that drastically changes the course of her life, and her eventual journey and escape to Japan.” —Kodansha, Japanese publisher
