To mark the US publication of my debut novel, A Tiny Speck of Black and then Nothing, I was very happy to contribute an essay to @sarahemsley.bsky.social's wonderful newsletter. sarahemsley.com/2026/08/04/a...

“A Fusing Full of Joy: What a novelist learned from writing biography,” by Emily Midorikawa

I’m delighted to introduce today’s guest essay by Emily Midorikawa, whose debut novel, A Tiny Speck of Black and then Nothing, has just been published. Congratulations, Emily! Today is the pub date…

sarahemsley.com

My debut novel, A Tiny Speck of Black and then Nothing, is now available as an ebook to readers in Canada & the the US. Canadian/US preorders for the paperback are also open (release date Nov 10): tinyurl.com/2em36wm2

A Tiny Speck of Black and Then Nothing

A young woman on a journey of self-discovery in Japan is plunged into danger when her friend disappears, in this novel from an award-winning author. Anna Layne was only nine years old when her mother ...

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I love @akennedysmith.bsky.social's cultural recommendations, which appear in her 'Cambridge Ladies' Dining Society' Substack, so it was a wonderful surprise to see my debut novel A Tiny Speck of Black and then Nothing, featured in her 'August Letter from Cambridge': tinyurl.com/274767pj

August letter from Cambridge

Summer reading (new books and old), suffragettes and sisters

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Thank you for sharing it @akennedysmith.bsky.social. I was so happy to be featured on this wonderful Substack.

Ann Kennedy Smith@akennedysmith.bsky.social · last wk.

A lovely, funny piece by Jonathan Ruppin introducing @emilymidorikawa.bsky.social's new novel A TINY SPECK OF BLACK AND THEN NOTHING @bonnierbooksuk.bsky.social. I can't wait to read it, preferably with a Japanese cocktail or two.

Wonderful to see my debut novel (& its long journey to publication!) featured in the The 400-Year-Old Library Substack by @ruppin.bsky.social open.substack.com/pub/littlego...

When life gives you lychees

The improbable link between novel writing, Japanese cocktails and a beluga whale

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Thank you so much, @katemayfield.bsky.social!

Kate Mayfield@katemayfield.bsky.social · 2w ago

Happy Publication Day to @emilymidorikawa.bsky.social on the publication of her terrific debut novel. Set in Osaka, ‘A Tiny Speck of Black and then Nothing’ is an atmospheric thriller about an English teacher in Japan who searches for answers when her friend disappears. Congratulations to Emily!

A Tiny Speck of Black and then Nothing is published by @manillapress.bsky.social today! It still feels surreal, a feeling I attempted to sum up here: emilymidorikawa.com/2026/07/23/o...

Out today: A Tiny Speck of Black and then Nothing

Book signing at London’s Goldsboro Books It still feels surreal to me that the novel I began close to a quarter of a century ago is finally being published by Manilla Press today! It amazes m…

emilymidorikawa.com

Excited to be on the schedule for the return in September of Lost Ladies of Lit, one of my favourite podcasts. It was great to chat with Amy Helmes & Kim Askew & to share my passion for the chilling (& funny) 1950s domestic noir, The Hours Before Dawn by Celia Fremlin. tinyurl.com/5aahhe68

Fall Forecast, Plus a Pilgrimage Challenge

We're planning an exciting autumn filled with lost ladies.

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'For a brief blip, writing a cell phone novel was seen as a chance at both personal self-fulfillment and upward social mobility': from Nicole Blackwood's interesting @literaryhub.bsky.social essay on the popularity of the Japanese cell phone novel in the early 2000s. tinyurl.com/33hwfnv8

The Cell Phone Novel Craze of Early 2000s Japan Did Not, in Fact, Destroy Literature

Once upon a Y2K, technology still felt like it could fulfill some human need: our drive for connection, perhaps, or just external recognition of our internal monologue. In the early aughts, digital…

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I'm very happy to be able to announce another event to mark the forthcoming publication of my debut novel, A Tiny Speck of Black and then Nothing. Thursday 6 August at Woolwich Library, London (in association with the JET Programme Alumni Association). Tickets available here: tinyurl.com/5n657rvm

A quick note to say that my debut novel, A Tiny Speck of Black and then Nothing, is available to preorder as an audiobook (worldwide release date: 23 July). Narrated by the multi-talented Jacqui Bardelang.

Very happy to see my forthcoming debut novel, A Tiny Speck of Black and then Nothing, included in the Crib Notes Substack 'Hot Mum Summer Reading List 2026' alongside Seicho Matsumoto's classic crime novel Tokyo Express & Emily Itami's Kakigori Summer - two personal favourites. tinyurl.com/mbdv6yj3

Hot Mum Summer Reading List 2026

A peek at the books I'll be diving into this summer. PLUS: 6 delicious novels I LOVED and think you will love too. 🏖️📚🍹

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As an avid reader of Rachel Connor's 'Creative Courage' Substack, I was delighted to see me & my forthcoming debut novel, A Tiny Speck of Black and then Nothing, featured in her latest newsletter along with a link to the video the two of us recorded last week: tinyurl.com/3375x5cb

058: When I witnessed a room of strangers receive my work

The night writing stopped being a private act

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In June's monthly author newsletter essay, I wrote about the benefits of living in a world much offline when I was getting started as a writer in the early 2000s. emilymidorikawa.com/2026/06/25/t...

The Headspace to Dream: starting out as a writer in a world offline

For me at least, it’s hard to believe that A Tiny Speck of Black and then Nothing – the novel I began while I was living in Japan in the early 2000s – will be released by Manilla Press in a month’s…

emilymidorikawa.com

Cover reveal for the North American version of my debut novel, A Tiny Speck of Black and then Nothing. Published as an ebook by Open Road on 4 Aug. Paperback to follow. Available for preordering now.

Very kind words from @lindasbookbag.bsky.social! Thank you, Linda - I hope A Tiny Speck of Black and then Nothing lives up to expectations!

Linda Hill@lindasbookbag.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Thank you so much @manillapress.bsky.social for A Tiny Speck of Black and then Nothing by @emilymidorikawa.bsky.social out 23rd July. I expect this to be brilliant! www.waterstones.com/book/a-tiny-...

And I love this quote from Kate Scarth's fascinating guest post for @sarahemsley.bsky.social's site. I look forward to reading her book, Romantic Suburbs, too.

Sarah Emsley@sarahemsley.bsky.social · 2mo ago

“I love that novels—from this period and beyond—give readers permission, actually encourage us, to be as nosey as possible. Readers are invited into the drawing room, the dining room, the garden, to learn all about people we have never met and yet want to know all about, every detail.”

'Set within a stretch of coastal woodland, in rural Japan, this post box receives letters written to the dead.' Wonderful @literaryhub.bsky.social essay - excerpted from @sallyhayd.bsky.social's book, which I have just ordered. tinyurl.com/5yx8h78b

Mail Between Heaven and Earth: On Japan’s Post Office For Letters to the Dead

It is called the drifting post, he explained, because the letters drift between heaven and earth. Set within a stretch of coastal woodland, in rural Japan, this post box receives letters written to…

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A quick note to let you know that my debut novel A Tiny Speck of Black and then Nothing (published by @manillapress.bsky.social on 23 July) is now available to request to read on @netgalley.bsky.social (UK): www.netgalley.co.uk/catalog/book...

A Tiny Speck of Black and Then Nothing

NetGalley helps publishers and authors promote digital review copies to book advocates and industry professionals. Publishers make digital review copies and audiobooks available for the NetGalley comm...

netgalley.co.uk

'William Gladstone ... was against university education for women in principle ... but he made an exception in his daughter’s case.' Another fascinating episode in the history of Cambridge women, captured by @akennedysmith.bsky.social.

Ann Kennedy Smith@akennedysmith.bsky.social · 2mo ago

I wrote about Helen Gladstone, Vice-Principal of Newnham College Cambridge, who in 1887 preferred ‘not to ask for degrees, but not to appear to reject them if they are offered.’ Yet in 1897 she took action for the sake of women's education and asked her father William Gladstone for his support.

Congratulations to @sarahemsley.bsky.social, winner of the inaugural Atlantic Independent Booksellers Readers’ Choice Award for her elegant & atmospheric novel, The Austens.

Sarah Emsley@sarahemsley.bsky.social · 2mo ago

The Austens won the Atlantic Independent Booksellers Readers’ Choice Award! I’m thrilled, and I’m grateful to everyone who voted. Thank you!!! 💖

Excited to be taking part in this Debuts event at the fantastic Bard Books, London, on Wed 22 July, where I'll be presenting my first novel, A Tiny Speck of Black and then Nothing. Tickets available now. www.wearebardbooks.co.uk/event-detail...

Bard Debuts - July 2026 | Bard Books

Imagine a night of speed dating except the people selling themselves are the newest authors on the scene. JOIN US for the latest edition of a monthly night celebrating debut authors. Meet the faces be...

wearebardbooks.co.uk

I loved the image of a person's past glimpsed fleetingly through a train window, evoked with great poignancy in this wide-ranging personal essay by @judecook.bsky.social.

Jude Cook@judecook.bsky.social · 2mo ago

A May Substack essay from me on the last day of the month. I wrote about Larkin and home towns in PASSING HOME: THE LESS DECEIVED. Read it for free here: judecook.substack.com/p/passing-home

In my monthly author newsletter, I wrote about the surreal experience of retrieving a long abandoned novel manuscript from a bottom drawer, and getting it ready for publication: emilymidorikawa.com/2026/05/26/r...

Retrieving an Abandoned Book from a Bottom Drawer

Last month, I mentioned that I’ll be marking UK publication day for my debut novel A Tiny Speck of Black and then Nothing with an event at Blackwell’s, Manchester on Thursday 23 July. I’m now delig…

emilymidorikawa.com

And I loved this round-up of cultural offerings from the always well-informed @akennedysmith.bsky.social: 'A May morning letter from Cambridge' open.substack.com/pub/akennedy...

A May morning letter from Cambridge

Books, bouquets of flowers and underground poetry

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This Substack essay by @ruppin.bsky.social has social history, humour & a cake recipe (plus insights into the worlds of writing & book publishing). Really, what more could you want? Swimming with sharks open.substack.com/pub/littlego...

Swimming with sharks

In which an Englishman meddles with a classic Welsh recipe and then tries to explain how – and indeed if – publishing works

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Congratulations to @sarahemsley.bsky.social, whose wonderful Austen-inspired novel The Austens is among those selected for the 2026 Readers’ Choice Award, sponsored by the Atlantic Independent Booksellers. The first round of the public vote closes on 22 May (this Friday). Good luck, Sarah!

Sarah Emsley@sarahemsley.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Voting is open until Friday for the 2026 Readers’ Choice Award! The Austens is one of the eligible titles, and it’s in great company with lots of wonderful books, many by friends of mine. See the list of eligible books and vote here: atlanticbookawards.ca/awards/reade...

Another upcoming event to mark the publication of my debut novel, A TINY SPECK OF BLACK & THEN NOTHING. I'll be at the fantastic independent bookshop, Collected, in Durham (UK) on Wed 29 July. Tickets available here: collectedbooks.co.uk/products/emi...

Emily Midorikawa - A Tiny Speck of Black and Then Nothing | Wednesday

We are incredibly excited to be welcoming debut novelist Emily Midorikawa to Collected this July! Emily is author of Out of the Shadows: Six Visionary Victorian Women in Search of a Public Voice, and ...

collectedbooks.co.uk

I continue to enjoy these evocative dispatches from the Little Goat Barn in North Wales, & look forward to hearing that they are ready to open as a writing retreat. (Their mentoring & manuscript appraisal services remain available.) Good luck Emma & Jonathan! open.substack.com/pub/littlego...

It takes a village to build a writing retreat

On sound baths, foam-rubber warthogs and Prince Pondicherry

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I'm also very excited at the prospect of discussing my forthcoming debut novel, A TINY SPECK OF BLACK AND THEN NOTHING, with Susan Barker @blackwells.bsky.social, Manchester (UK) on 23 July. Tickets are available here: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/a-tiny-spe...

A Tiny Speck Of Black And Then Nothing: Emily Midorikawa in conversation

Join us to launch Emily Midorikawa's debut novel, in conversation with Susan Barker!

eventbrite.co.uk