Hiromi Kawakami
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Kawakami Hiromi (川上 弘美 Kawakami Hiromi) born April 1, 1958, is a Japanese writer. She made her first debut as “Yamada Hiromi” in NW-SF #16, edited by Yamano Koichi and Yamada Kazuko, in 1980 with the story So-shimoku (“Diptera”), and also helped edit some early issues of NW-SF in the 1970’s. She reinvented herself as a writer and made her second debut in mainstream literature in 1994. Since then she has become one of the most popular writers in Japan.
Born in Tokyo, she graduated from Ochanomizu Women's College. Her first novel God (Kamisama) was published in 1994. In 1996, she was awarded the Akutagawa Prize for Tread On A Snake (Hebi wo fumu). 2000 she won the Itō Sei Literature Prize and the Woman Writer's Prize for Oboreru. In 2001, she went on to win the Tanizaki Prize for her novel The Teacher's Briefcase (Sensei no kaban), a love story between a woman in her thirties and a man in his seventies.
[edit] Selected works
- Kamisama (God), 1994
An English translation of this story is included in Read Real Japanese, a compilation of Japanese short stories edited by Michael Emmerich, published in 2008.
- Hebi wo fumu (蛇を踏む, Tread On A Snake), 1996
- Oboreru (Drowning), 2000
- Sensei no kaban (The Teacher's Briefcase), 2000
- Furudogu Nakano Shoten (The Nakano Thrift Store), 2005
