Yoko Ogawa

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Yoko Ogawa (小川洋子, Ogawa Yōko^?, born March 30, 1962) is a Japanese writer.

She was born in Okayama Prefecture, graduated from Waseda University, and lives in Ashiya with her husband and son. Since 1988, she has published more than twenty works of fiction and nonfiction. Her novel The Professor and his Beloved Equation has been made into a movie. In 2006 she co-authored "An Introduction to the World's Most Elegant Mathematics" with Masahiko Fujiwara, a mathematician, as a dialogue on the extraordinary beauty of numbers.

[edit] Prizes

1988 Kaien Prize for her debut Disintegration of the butterfly (Agehacho ga kowareru toki, 揚羽蝶が壊れる時)
1990 Akutagawa Prize for Pregnancy Calendar (Ninshin karendaa, 妊娠カレンダー)
2004 Yomiuri Prize for The Professor and his Beloved Equation (Hakase no aishita sushiki, 博士の愛した数式; translated as The Gift of Numbers)
2004 Izumi Prize for Burafuman no maisō, ブラフマンの埋葬
2006 Tanizaki Prize for Meena's March (Mīna no kōshin, ミーナの行進)

[edit] Works in English translation

The Man Who Sold Braces (Gibusu o uru hito, ギブスを売る人, 1998); translated by Shibata Motoyuki, Manoa, 13.1, 2001.
The Cafeteria in the Evening and a Pool in the Rain (Yūgure no kyūshoku shitsu to ame no pūru, 夕暮れの給食室と雨のプール, 1991); translated by Stephen Snyder, The New Yorker, 9/2004. [read]
Pregnancy Diary (Ninshin karendā, 妊娠カレンダー, 1991); translated by Stephen Snyder, The New Yorker, 12/2005. [read]
The Gift of Numbers (Hakase no aishi ta sūshiki, 博士の愛した数式, 2003); translated by Yosei Sugawara, New York : Picador, 2006. ISBN 0-312-42597-X - Not currently available on amazon.com, and not really clear whether it was ever published at all; however, recently resurfaced in a different translation (see below).
The Diving Pool: Three Novellas (Daibingu puru, ダイヴィング・プール, 1990; Ninshin karendā, 妊娠カレンダー, 1991; Domitory, ドミトリイ, 1991); translated by Stephen Snyder, New York: Picador, 2008. ISBN 0-312-42683-6 - available on amazon.com.
The Housekeeper and the Professor (Hakase no aishi ta sūshiki, 博士の愛した数式, 2003); translated by ?, New York : Picador, 2008. ISBN 0-312-42780-8 - Years ago announced as "The Gift of Numbers", possibly a different translation, available for pre-order on amazon.com (to appear September 30, 2008)

[edit] Other works

Most frequently translated (though not yet in English)

Hotel Iris (Hoteru Airisu, ホテル・アイリス, 1996; available in French, German, Spanish, Catalan, Greek, Italian, Slovene)
The Ring Finger (Kusuriyubi no hyōhon, 薬指の標本, 1994; available in French, German, Greek, Italian; also a French film)
Love in the Margin (Yohaku no ai, 余白の愛, 1991; available in French, German)
The Museum of Silence (Chinmoku hakubutsukan, 沈黙博物館, 2000; available in French, German)

Other works (some translated to French)

Kanpeki na byōshitsu, 完璧な病室, 1989
Agehachō ga kowareru toki, 揚羽蝶が壊れる時, 1989, Kaien Prize
Same nai kōcha, 冷めない紅茶, 1990
Shugā taimu, シュガータイム, 1991
Angelina sano motoharu to 10 no tanpen, アンジェリーナ―佐野元春と10の短編, 1993
Yōsei ga mai oriru yoru, 妖精が舞い下りる夜, 1993
Hisoyaka na kesshō, 密やかな結晶, 1994
Rokukakukei no shō heya, 六角形の小部屋, 1994
Anne Furanku no kioku, アンネ・フランクの記憶, 1995
Shishū suru shōjo, 刺繍する少女, 1996
Yasashī uttae, やさしい訴え, 1996
Kōritsui ta kaori, 凍りついた香り, 1998
Kamoku na shigai, midara na tomurai, 寡黙な死骸みだらな弔い, 1998
Fukaki kokoro no soko yori, 深き心の底より, 1999
Gūzen no shukufuku, 偶然の祝福, 2000
Mabuta, まぶた, 2001
Kifujin A no sosei, 貴婦人Aの蘇生, 2002
Burafuman no maisō, ブラフマンの埋葬, 2004, Izumi Prize
Yo ni mo utsukushī sūgaku nyūmon, 世にも美しい数学入門, 2005 (An Introduction to the World's Most Elegant Mathematics)
Inu no shippo o nade nagara, 犬のしっぽを撫でながら, 2006
Otogibanashi no wasuremono, おとぎ話の忘れ物, 2006 (illustrated)
Mīna no kōshin, ミーナの行進, 2006 (illustrated), Tanizaki Prize
Umi, 海 2006
Ogawa Yōko taiwa shū, 小川洋子対話集, 2007 (conversations)
Monogatari no yakuwari, 物語の役割, 2007