Aki Shimazaki

Aki Shimazaki (2018)

Aki Shimazaki ( Japanese 島 崎 あ き , Shimazaki Aki ; * 1954 in the Gifu Prefecture ) is a Japanese writer who, like Tawada Yōko , writes and publishes in French rather than her native Japanese.

Life

Shimazaki worked as a kindergarten teacher in Japan for five years and taught English grammar at a tutoring school. In 1981 she emigrated to Canada and lived in Vancouver for five years , where she worked for an IT company, after which she lived in Toronto for five years . She has lived in Montreal since 1991 . In addition to her literary work, she also teaches Japanese. It was not until 1995, at the age of 40, that she began to systematically learn French in self-study and at the Katimavik language school .

In particular, the Hungarian-Swiss writer Ágota Kristóf and her trilogy that began with Das große Heft (Orig .: Le grand cahier , 1986) were a role model and motivation for Shimazaki.

Works

• 1999: Tsubaki ( 椿 ) (2009 reprint)
  • Tsubaki , translated from French by Bernd Wilczek, Kunstmann Verlag, Munich 2003, ISBN 3-88897-322-8
• 2000: Hamaguri ( 蛤 )
• 2001: Tsubame ( 燕 )
  • Tsubame , translated from French by Bernd Wilczek, Kunstmann Verlag, Munich 2004, ISBN 3-88897-350-3
• 2002: Wasurenagusa ( 忘 れ な 草 )
  • Wasurenagusa , translated from French by Bernd Wilczek, Kunstmann Verlag, Munich 2005, ISBN 3-88897-380-5
• 2005: Hotaru ( 蛍 )
• 2006: Mitsuba
• 2008: Zakuro
• 2010: Tonbo
• 2012: Tsukushi
• 2013: Yamabuki

Awards

• Prix ​​Ringuet of the Académie des lettres du Québec for Hamaguri (2000)
• Canada-Japan Literary Award from the Canada Council for the Arts for Wasurenagusa (2004)
• Prix ​​du Gouverneur général for Hotaru (2005)

Web links

• Reviews of the works translated into German: Tsubaki , Tsubame & Wasurenagusa

Individual evidence

1. ^ Pierre Filion People from Canada
2. ^ Prix ​​littéraire Canada-Japon, list of all award winners up to 2016