Simon Rowe

Simon Rowe is a Japan-based writer and author of Mami Suzuki: Private Eye (Penguin), the story of a single mother sleuth from Kobe.

Rowe has lived in Japan for 27 years, winning awards for his short fiction and screenplays, including Good Night Papa (2013 Asian Short Screenplay Contest) and Pearl City: Stories from Japan and Elsewhere (2021 Best Indie Book Award). His stories about Japanese life and culture have appeared in The Paris Review, The New York Times, TIME (Asia), South China Morning Post, The Straits Times, and The Australian.

He was a finalist in the Australian Crime Writers Association’s 2025 Louie Award and a 2024 Ngaio Marsh Award nominee for Best First Novel (Mami Suzuki: Private Eye).

Other Awards

Winner, 2023 Rising Stories Asia International Story Pitching Competition, for HAM.
Selected, 2022 The Best Asian Short Stories Anthology, Paris Match, Kitaab International Publishing, Singapore.
Shortlisted, 2022, Sargeson Prize, New Zealand, for short story, The Mataroa Hills.
Finalist, 2022 New Generation Indie Book Awards, (worldwide), Pearl City: Stories from Japan and Elsewhere.
Winner, 2022 Writing in Kyoto Competition, (worldwide), Writers in Kyoto, Diary of a Rickshaw Puller.
Winner, 2021 Best Indie Book Award (worldwide), Pearl City: Stories from Japan and Elsewhere.
Selected, 2021 The Best Asian Poetry Anthology, Haiku from the Hood, Kitaab International Publishing, Singapore.
Shortlisted, 2021 Rubery Book Award (worldwide), Pearl City: Stories from Japan and Elsewhere.
Selected, 2019 The Best Asian Short Stories Anthology, The Convenience Store Ballerina, pp 85-101, Kitaab International Publishing, Singapore.
Commended, 2018 BBC World Radio playwriting contest, The Pearl Diver.
Winner, 2017 Hal Porter Short Story Prize, Australia, for Crossing The Ditch.
Shortlisted, 2016 Open Road Review Short Story Prize, worldwide, Baby Grand.
Finalist, 2016 Hollyshorts Film Festival, Los Angeles, U.S., for the short screenplay The Girl From Pearl City.
Semi-finalist, 2016 Scriptapalooza Screenplay Contest, Los Angeles, U.S., for the short screenplay The Pilgrim.
Finalist, 2015 Hollyshorts Film Festival, Los Angeles, U.S., for the short screenplay The Foonabiki Barbers.
Winner, The Paris Review’s Windows on the World essay competition, 2014, New York, U.S.
Winner, 2013 Asian Short Film Script Competition, worldwide, Good Night Papa. Movie produced by JBF Entertainment, viewable on YouTube (judge: Michelle Yeoh; director: Yu Inose).