Mieko Kawakami

Mieko Kawakami
is a Japanese writer and poet from Osaka. Her work has won prestigious Japanese literary awards in several genres, including the 138th Akutagawa Prize for her novella Chichi to ran (乳と卵) (Breasts and Eggs), the 2013 Tanizaki Prize for her short story collection Ai no yume to ka (愛の夢とか) (Dreams of Love, etc.), and the 2008 Nakahara Chūya Prize for Contemporary Poetry for Sentan de, sasuwa sasareruwa soraeewa (先端で さすわ さされるわ そらええわ). Kawakami's works have been translated into several languages and distributed throughout the world.
Early life
Kawakami was born in Osaka on August 29, 1976.
Career
Kawakami worked as a hostess and bookstore clerk, before embarking on a singing career. Kawakami released three albums, but she quit her musical career in 2006 to focus on writing.
Subsequently, Kawakami made her literary debut as a poet in 2006, and she published her first novella, My Ego, My Teeth, and the World, in 2007. Before winning the Akutagawa Prize in 2008 for Breasts and Eggs, Kawakami was known in Japan primarily as a blogger. At its peak, her popular blog received over 200,000 hits per day.
In 2010, Kawakami's first full-length novel, Heaven, won the Murasaki Shikibu Prize for Literature. In 2012, an English translation of her short story "March Yarn" appeared in March was Made of Yarn, which is a collection of essays and stories about the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami.
From 2015 to 2017, Kawakami conducted a series of interviews with Haruki Murakami, in which she notably asked him about women and sexualization in his novels. The edited volume of these interviews, titled was published in 2017. During this same period, Kawakami was selected as a 2016 Granta Best of Young Japanese Novelists for her short story "Marie's Proof of Love."
Kawakami's novel, Ms Ice Sandwich, made the shortlist of the 2018 edition of the Grand Prix of Literary Associations. In 2019, Kawakami published Summer Stories, a considerably expanded version of her novella Breasts and Eggs and received the 73rd Mainichi Publication Culture Award.
In 2020, the English translation of Summer Stories was published by Europa Editions. The New York Times ran a review by Katie Kitamura on the day of publication, in which she observes, "Mieko Kawakami writes with a bracing lack of sentimentality, particularly when describing the lives of women."
Her 2022 book, All the Lovers in the Night, was a finalist for the 2023 National Book Critics Circle Award in Fiction.
Writing style
Kawakami's writing often employs Osaka dialect, which is a distinctive Japanese dialect spoken in Osaka and surrounding cities. She also incorporates experimental and poetic language into her short stories and novels, citing Lydia Davis and James Joyce as literary influences. Her writing is known for its poetic qualities and its insights into the female body, ethical questions, and the dilemmas of modern society.
Japanese author, Haruki Murakami, called her his favorite young novelist and has described her writing as "ceaselessly growing and evolving".
Awards and recognition
In addition to the awards noted above, Kawakami has also received the following:
2007 Tsubouchi Shoyo Prize for Young Emerging Writers for Watakushi ritsuin hā, mata wa sekai (My Ego Ratio, My Teeth, and the World)
2008 Chūya Nakahara Prize for Sentan de, sasuwa sasareruwa sora eewa
2008 Akutagawa Prize for Breasts and Eggs
2010 Murasaki Shikibu Prize for Heaven
2013 Tanizaki Prize for Ai no Yume toka (Dreams of Love, etc.)
2016 Watanabe Junichiro Prize for Akogare (Yearning)
2019 Mainichi Publication Culture Award for Summer Stories
Bibliography
Books in Japanese
Watakushi ritsu in ha, mata wa sekai (わたくし率 イン 歯一、または世界, My Ego Ratio, My Teeth, and the World), Kodansha, 2007,
Chichi to ran (乳と卵, Breasts and Eggs), Bungeishunju, 2008,
Sentan de, sasuwa sasareruwa soraeewa(先端で、さすわ さされるわ そらええわ), Seidosha, 2008,
Hevun (ヘヴンHeaven), Kodansha, 2009,
Subete mayonaka no koibito tachi (すべて真夜中の恋人たち, All the Lovers in the Night), Kodansha, 2011,
Ai no yume to ka (愛の夢とか, Dreams of Love, etc.), Kodansha, 2013,
Akogare (あこがれ, Yearning), Shinchosha, 2015
Wisteria to sannin no onna tachi (ウィステリアと三人の女たち, "Wisteria and Three Women"), Shinchosha, 2017,
Natsu monogatari (夏物語, "Summer Stories"), Bungeishunju, 2019,
Haru no kowai mono (春のこわいもの, "The Fears of Spring"), Shinchosha, 2022,
Selected work in English
"From Breasts and Eggs," trans. Louise Heal Kawai, Words Without Borders, 2012
"March Yarn," trans. Michael Emmerich, March was Made of Yarn: Reflections on the Japanese Earthquake, Tsunami, and Nuclear Meltdown, 2012
"Where Have All the Sundays Gone?", trans. Hitomi Yoshio, Words Without Borders, 2015
"About Her and the Memories That Belong to Her", trans. Hitomi Yoshio, Granta 132, 2015
"Strawberry Fields Forever and Ever," trans. Hitomi Yoshio, Pleiades: Literature in Context, 2016
"The Flower Garden," trans. Hitomi Yoshio, Freeman's: The Future of New Writing, 2017
Ms. Ice Sandwich, trans. Louise Heal Kawai, Pushkin Press, 2018,
"How Much Heart," trans. David Boyd, Granta Online, 2018
Breasts and Eggs, trans. Sam Bett and David Boyd, Europa Editions, 2020,
"The Flowers Look More Beautiful Now Than Ever," trans. Hitomi Yoshio, Granta Online, 2020
"Shame", trans. Louise Heal Kawai and Hitomi Yoshio, Granta Online, 2020
Heaven, trans. Sam Bett and David Boyd, Europa Editions, 2021, p. 192.
All the Lovers in the Night, trans. Sam Bett and David Boyd, Europa Editions, 2022, p. 224.
Personal life
Kawakami lives in Tokyo, Japan.
References
External links
Official website
1976 births
Living people
Japanese writers
Akutagawa Prize winners
Writers from Osaka
Singers from Osaka
21st-century Japanese singers
21st-century Japanese women singers