Yôko Ogawa

Yoko Ogawa was born in 1962 in Okayama Prefecture. She graduated in 1984 from Waseda University in Tokyo, where she studied literature and arts. While working at a medical university in Okayama, she began writing novellas. In 1988, she won the Kaien Prize for New Writers with her novella "When the Butterfly Breaks." Her fame grew as her subsequent works—"The Perfect Sickroom," "The Diving Pool," "The Tea That Never Cools," and "Pregnancy Diary"—were consecutively nominated for the Akutagawa Prize. She eventually won it in 1991, at the age of 29, for "Pregnancy Diary." Ogawa's narratives are characterized by her deep interest in the world of the spirit—particularly the intersection of the living and the dead—fantastical themes, a peculiar eroticism, and unspoken emotions. She lives with her husband and daughter in Kurashiki, a historic city in Okayama Prefecture. Other works by her include: "Marginal Love," "Angelina," "The Housekeeper and the Professor," "The Memory of Anna Frank," "The Girl Who Embroidered," "A Gentle Request," "Frozen Smell," "Hotel Iris," "Silent Body, Indecent Funeral," among others.