Born in Tokyo in 1924, Tomiko Inui joined a publishing house in 1950, where she began working as an editor, as well as writing books for children. She published many books over her long career, winnin…
Yasunari Kawabata (川端 康成) was a Japanese short story writer and novelist whose spare, lyrical, subtly-shaded prose works won him the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1968, the first Japanese author to re…
Kate DiCamillo, the newly named National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature for 2014–2015, says about stories, “When we read together, we connect. Together, we see the world. Together, we see on…
While still in his twenties, the Anglo-Irish playwright Martin McDonagh filled houses in New York and London, was showered with the theatre world's most prestigious accolades, and electrified audience…
Eiko Kadono (角野栄子) is a Japanese author of children's literature, picture books, non-fiction and essays in Shōwa and Heisei period Japan. Kadono was born in Tokyo, and attended the Nihon Fukushi Unive…
Nick Bradley holds a PhD from UEA focussing on the figure of the cat in Japanese literature. He lived in Japan for many years where he worked as a translator, and currently teaches on the Creative Wri…
Sachiko Kashiwaba (1953–) is a native of Iwate Prefecture, where she was born in the coastal city of Miyako. She studied at Tohoku Pharmaceutical University in Sendai, and while still in college made …
Kenji Ueda is a Japanese novelist known for blending fantasy with the charm of everyday life. Born in Tokyo in 1969, he made his debut as a writer in 2021 with Teppan (The Iron Griddle), the revised v…
Sayaka Murata (in Japanese, 村田 沙耶香) is one of the most exciting up-and-coming writers in Japan today. She herself still works part time in a convenience store, which gave her the inspiration to write …
Kim Hye-jin was born in Daegu, Korea, in 1983. She debuted in 2012 when her story ‘Chicken Run’ won Dong-A Ilbo’s Spring Literary Award. She won the Joongang Novel Prize for Joongang Station, and the …
Natsume Sōseki (夏目 漱石), born Natsume Kinnosuke (夏目 金之助), was a Japanese novelist. He is best known for his novels Kokoro, Botchan, I Am a Cat and his unfinished work Light and Darkness. He was also a …
Costanza Casati was born in Texas and grew up in a village in Northern Italy, where she studied Ancient Greek, and Ancient Greek literature, under one of the country’s most rigorous academic programme…
Lex Croucher grew up in Surrey, reading a lot of books and making friends with strangers on the internet, and now lives in London with an elderly cat. With a background in social media for NGOs, Lex n…
Sonoko Machida (町田 そのこ) is a Japanese writer. Her story Cameroon no Aoi Sakana received the R-18 Literary Award in 2016. Her novel 52 Hertz no Kujiratachi won the 2021 Japan Booksellers' Award Grand P…
A. B. Poranek grew up sharing her time between Ontario, Canada and rural Poland, and eventually completed a veterinary degree at the Warsaw University of Life Sciences. A lover of mythology and histor…
Kazumi Yumoto was born in Tokyo, Japan in 1959. She studied music composition at Tokyo College. Her books, mostly novels for older children, have won numerous international awards.
