Once you finish reading, you'll definitely look forward to autumn. A Japanese confectionery × work novel packed with both sweetness and bitterness! Shibako Akita makes her novelist debut from Asahi Bunko after winning the Creative Award 2025

A novel by Shibako Akita, selected in the work novel category of Japan's largest creative contest "Creative Award 2025" with a total of 69,808 submissions, is being published as a book. The award-winning work originally posted on the story posting site TALES underwent repeated revisions and will be released by Asahi Shimbun Publications on Tuesday, April 7, 2026, as "Chestnuts are Moon-colored, Golden-colored: Wagashi Shop Nagatsukido". This is the first case of a work posted on TALES being published as a book. Purchase here: https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/4022652381 Moist and shining with a golden hue, chestnut kinton—. The signature product at the long-established Japanese confectionery shop "Nagatsukido" in Ena City, Gifu Prefecture, inherited solely by the grandmother. This is a Japanese confectionery × work novel where Satoko, who suddenly has to take it over, continues to single-mindedly face Japanese confectionery making without yielding to the difficulties that come her way one after another. Once you finish reading, a positive feeling of wanting to face your work in such a way, along with an impatience for autumn when chestnuts change color, will surely spread warmly within you. Please pick it up and take a look. ## Comments from the author, Shibako Akita "I want to write it out with all my might this year" The "Creative Award 2025" started from the reflection that both of the previous two times were right at the deadline. What I aimed for was a "visually delicious novel". I wrote it with the hope that it would be a rewarding story where you can also enjoy trivia about chestnuts and Japanese sweets. "Not exactly unhappy, but somehow unfulfilled" "Working hard but clumsy, not quite confident in my own way of life" I want to deliver this story to those who, like the protagonist, feel that way somewhere in their hearts while steadily making daily efforts. And it would be my greatest joy as an author if, after reading it, you feel an irresistible longing for autumn. Award-winning work "Chestnut and Peony" https://tales.note.com/akishiba_note/wnxj0k2xmb8r3 ## Comments from the editor in charge at Asahi Shimbun Publications . "Chestnuts are Moon-colored, Golden-colored: Wagashi Shop Nagatsukido" (originally titled "Chestnut and Peony" when posted) begins with this single line of the protagonist Satoko's grandmother boiling a large amount of chestnuts. From an opening that seems to drift steam and a sweet scent, you are immediately drawn into the world of red bean paste... and by the time I finished reading, a strong desire to work together until publication had welled up. The period from the decision to publish to the final proofreading was very short, but Shibako Akita researched Japanese sweets thoroughly and polished the work carefully. Of course, the descriptions of delicious-looking Japanese sweets, but also Satoko's earnestness towards her work is a major charm of this book. To work in such a way