Mieko Kawakami
Wednesday, January 25, 2012 at 9:42AM
Aonghas Crowe in Akutagawa Prize, Authors, Breasts and Egg, Chichi to Ran, Humor, Japanese Men, Japanese Women, Japanese literary prize, Mieko Kawakami, Ryunosuke Akutagawa, Shinya Tanaka, 乳と卵, 川上 未映子, 田中慎弥


   When the disheveled Shinya Tanaka (田中慎弥) plodded onto the stage (see video) to give his interview with the press after winning the prestigious Akutagawa Prize[1] a week ago, I couldn’t help remembering when a very different writer won the prize four years earlier.

   Mieko Kawakami (川上未映子), a singer and author from Osaka, was awarded the prize in 2008 for her second novel Chichi to Ran (乳と卵Breasts and Egg).

   I have not yet read anything by the author, but if she writes half as good as she looks, forget about Haruki Murakami and short-list this gorgeous woman for the Nobel Prize!

 


[1] The Akutagawa Prize (芥川賞, Akutagawa Shô) is a semiannual prize given to promising new writers of serious fiction. Established in 1935, it is named after the novelist Ryûnosuke Akutagawa. Mieko Kawakami won the 138th prize; Shinya Tanaka, the 146th.

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