Taeko Tomioka
She was born in Osaka, was educated at Osaka Women's College, worked as a high school English teacher and moved to Tokyo in 1960. Tomioka visited New York City in 1964 and returned home to Japan in 1966. In 1969, she married Ataki Shizuo. Tomioka published several collections of poems. "Henrei" (1958) won the Mr. H Prize (H-shi Shō), awarded by the Association of Contemporary Japanese Poets. "Monogatari no akuru hi" (1961) received the 'Muro Saisei Prize. Tomioka also wrote a poetical drama "Matsuri" (1959) and a screenplay "Shinju ten no Amijima" (Double suicide, 1968). In  1971, she published the novel "Oka ni mukatte hito wa narabu" (Facing the Hills they stand). In 1974, Tomioka wrote "Shokubutsu sai", which received the Tamura Toshiko Prize. In 1974, she published "Meido no kazoku" (Family in hell), which received the Women's Literature Prize. Tomioka has also translated some English works by authors such as Gertrude Stein into Japanese. She has also produced essays on literature from a feminist viewpoint. In 1993, she published "Nobuyoshi Araki: Akt-Tokyo, 1971-1991", a book of erotic photography. In 1997, Tomioka wrote "Hiberunia kikō" (A journey to Ireland), which received the Noma  Literary Prize. In 2000, "The Funeral of a Giraffe: Seven Stories", a collection of her stories translated from Japanese to English, was published.