Kaori Ekuni

Kaori Ekuni ( Japanese 江 國 香 織 , Ekuni Kaori ; born March 21, 1964 ) is a Japanese writer.

Ekuni first studied at a women's short term university after graduating from college. After working in a youth book publisher, she went to the United States to study at the University of Delaware. She made her debut in 1987 with Stories for Children, for which she received a children's book award. With the novel Kira kira hikaru (1991), which became a bestseller in Japan, she won the 1992 Murasaki Shikibu Literature Prize . In the years that followed, she emerged as an essayist and author of sensitive portraits of young women. For Oyogu no ni anzen demo tekisetsu demo arimasen she received the Yamamoto Shūgorō Prize in 2002 , and the Naoki Prize in 2003 for Gōkyūsuru jumbi wa dekiteita . In 2010 she was awarded the Chūōkōron Literature Prize for Mahiru nanoni kurai heya .

Works (selection)

• 1991 Kira kira hikaru　( き ら き ら ひ か る )
• 1999 Kamisama no bōto　( 神 様 の ボ ー ト )
  • German God's boat , translation from Japanese by Wolfgang Schlecht, Angkor Verlag, Frankfurt, 2014, ISBN 978-3-936018-86-8
• 2002 Oyogu no ni anzen demo tekisetsu demo arimasen　( 泳 ぐ の に 、 安全 で も 適 切 で も あ り ま せ ん )
• 2003 Gōkyūsuru jumbi wa dekiteita ( 号泣 す る 準備 は で き て い た )

Web links

• La Littérature Japonaise - Ekuni Kaori
• Japanese Literature Publishing Project - Kaori Ekuni
• Kaisai-sha - Kaori Ekuni
• SRF Reflexe - Literature in Conversation: "God's Boat" by Kaori Ekuni