I am a literary giant in Japan

Chapter 14 We are here to watch "Hear the Wind Sing"!

In the afternoon, Kodansha, Gunzo editorial office, large conference room.

Due to repeated pressure from officials from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, the editorial department had to announce the shortlist for the Group Portrait Newcomer Award in advance.

After the list was released, it indeed attracted much attention from both inside and outside the industry as expected, and successfully helped the government ease the pressure of the sarin gas incident.

But it also caused an uproar in the literary and publishing circles.

The root of the problem lies in "Hear the Wind Sing", the only work among the 50 shortlisted works written by a new writer with a blank slate.

The controversy caused by the nomination of pure newcomer Hide Kitagawa even overshadowed their "bizarre behavior" of inviting "old-fashioned professor" Osamu Takeuchi from the Faculty of Literature of the University of Tokyo to be a judge this year.

More and more doubts were raised, and some readers even wrote to the editorial department, asking them, "Why do you dare to operate so blatantly?"

In order to resolve this emergency, Muramatsu Tomomi had to hold an emergency meeting.

"I said at the beginning that it was ill-considered to allow a writer with no background to be included in the shortlist. Now the situation has deteriorated. If people continue to talk about it like this, our Newcomer Award will become a laughing stock in the industry."

Although An Yuanxian said this, he was very satisfied with the current situation in his heart.

The pressure of public opinion is put on Muramatsu Tomomi and Saito Rena. If they fail to handle these doubts, and if this Newcomer Award becomes a laughing stock, the structure of the editorial department will be affected.

As the most staunch opponent, An Yuanxian was sitting on the Diaoyutai, hoping that the matter would get bigger and bigger.

Even if Muramatsu Tomoshi forcibly saved the young security guard, he still had another trump card -

Takeuchi Osamu is not afraid of power and will criticize when necessary.

He invited his former mentor over just to kill Rena Saito!
How good can a novel written by a security guard be?

Given Takeuchi Osamu's rigorous attitude towards literature, he would definitely criticize this novel to death if he found out that it was shoddy.

This is a guy who even dares to criticize the Akutagawa Prize winner.

The key is that he is recognized in the industry as "rigorous in his academic research and knowledgeable."

Although he is rigid and does not understand the ways of the world, no one would doubt his professional ability.

Thinking of this, Yasuhara Akira looked at Muramatsu Tomoshi who was frowning, and added: "Why not remove him from the shortlist first, at least it can calm down the dissatisfaction from all walks of life."

"In a week, we will go to the New Rakuten Hotel in Tsukiji for a closed selection event. Suddenly changing the shortlist now will only make them more suspicious."

Muramatsu Tomoshi glanced at An Yuanxian who kept coming up with bad ideas, and shook his head calmly.

"Moreover, the quality of this novel meets the criteria for the nomination. Eliminating it is the greatest injustice."

“I don’t deny that it is qualified for the nomination. But the fact that it is nominated has brought great negative impact to the Newcomer Award.

Editor-in-Chief Muramatsu, the Newcomer Award is not only related to the future of those new writers, but also related to the reputation of every colleague in our editorial department and Gunzo."

An Yuanxian shook his head and said,

“Especially now that the sales of ‘Group Portrait’ are declining month by month, any uncontrollable factors should not occur!

If sacrificing a new writer can restore the reputation of the Newcomer Award, why refuse to do it?
He only lost the qualification to be nominated, maybe he can win the award next year. But we lost the reputation and status of "Group Portrait" in the industry!"

As An Yuanxian spoke, he secretly replaced the internal logic and concepts.

He deliberately tied Kitagawa Hide's nomination to the fate of everyone in "Group Portrait", so that other veteran editors present would not dare to continue speaking for "Hear the Wind Sing".

If you push him together with Saito Reina, are you prepared to take all the responsibility if you fail?
The conference room fell into complete silence.

Even Muramatsu Tomoshi hesitated.

He is the editor-in-chief, not the boss. If Kitagawa Hide's nomination really affects the popularity of the Newcomer Award and the sales of "Gunzo", he will be blamed.

At this moment, someone knocked on the door of the conference room. An Yuan looked over with dissatisfaction.

There's an emergency meeting marked outside, why would anyone be so blind as to interrupt?
When I become the editor-in-chief, I will definitely give these guys a good shake.

The door opened.

When he saw who was coming, the anger on An Yuanxian's face disappeared instantly. He immediately stood up, walked over and helped the old man with slightly gray hair from Tanaka Aoi's hand.

"Teacher Takeuchi, why are you here?" An Yuanxian asked enthusiastically.

Tanaka Ao bowed to them and consciously stepped aside, followed by several equally respected literary giants.

She felt very happy. She was so lucky. She went downstairs to smoke a cigarette and happened to meet these big names who suddenly came to visit Kodansha. Although she only acted as a small receptionist, it was already a great honor to be able to make a name for herself in front of this group of people.

"I'm not old enough to need your help to walk." Takeuchi Osamu didn't like him very much. He walked straight to the meeting room and bowed slightly to everyone. The others immediately stood up and returned the greeting. "Because I was a little impatient waiting outside, I couldn't help but disturb you. Didn't it affect your meeting?"

"Teacher Takeuchi, you're joking. Please come this way." Muramatsu Tomoshi respects this senior in the industry very much. Reputation is reputation, but people with ability will always be respected wherever they are.

Not everyone can become a professor at the Faculty of Literature of the University of Tokyo and stay there for thirty years.

When Takeuchi Osamu came in, Muramatsu Tomoshi discovered that there were several industry giants following him. They were all special judges invited by "Gunzo" at great expense and through connections.

Ever since Xinchao's Newcomer Awards invited a large number of well-known figures in the literary and publishing circles to serve as special judges on the grounds of "more fair selection of award-winning works", the other four major Newcomer Awards have had to follow suit, and each one is more competitive than the last.

As a result, if a few famous special judges are not invited to the awards, it seems that the awards will become less valuable.

"Teachers, what is this?" An Yuanxian was also stunned.

This group of old men and women usually either travel around the world to participate in the evaluation of various literary awards, or conduct academic research in the Ministry of Education, and rarely appear in the public eye.

Not to mention coming to one place in such large groups.

People who don’t know might think that they are going to hold an annual award ceremony like the Akutagawa Prize.

"We are here to read the manuscript." Takeuchi Osamu said concisely.

"Read the manuscript?" Muramatsu Tomoshi signaled to Tanaka Aoi to close the door. The latter was listening with great interest, but the editor-in-chief had given instructions, so she had to help close the door reluctantly.

“Look at the shortlisted entries for this year’s group portrait newcomer award.” A gray-haired grandmother added.

"Eh? Mr. Kimura, didn't we write in the letter we sent you that the selection time is one week later and the location is..." Muramatsu Tomoshi became even more confused.

"We can't wait." Takeuchi Osamu waved his hand to interrupt him. "After reading some of the manuscripts you sent us today, we really want to know the follow-up of one of the novels. Although the selection time is a week later, it's a closed selection anyway, so it doesn't matter if it's a few days in advance, right?"

"It's okay, but which novel do you teachers want to read?" Muramatsu Tomoshi asked curiously. If a group of literary giants can't wait to "follow the novel", is it really one of the submissions for the Newcomer Award?
He was a little bit unable to believe it.

Yasuhara Akira was delighted to hear this. Among the 50 shortlisted novels, the best one was undoubtedly "The Remaining Epidemic" by Yomiuri Okatake.

I was originally thinking about how to turn Yomiuri Okata into the second "Oshima Hikaru", but now, free advertising has come uninvited!

"We want to read "Hear the Wind Sing."" Several old men and women became visibly excited when they talked about this novel.

"Well, teachers, Otomu, wait, were you talking about 'Hear the Wind Sing'?" An Yuanxian was still immersed in his own business operation thinking, but he suddenly came back to his senses and opened his eyes wide.

The other senior editors on the review committee also had wonderful expressions.

Takeuchi Osamu was a little impatient. He didn't know that this group of people were still discussing whether to disqualify Kitagawa Hide. Anyway, his purpose of coming here was very simple.

I just want to finish reading "Hear the Wind Sing" in one go!

"Okay, stop wasting time and let's go straight to the hotel!" Takeuchi Osamu waved his hand.

(End of this chapter)