Mieko Kawakami is a contemporary Japanese writer and poet.
Background
She was born in Osaka prefecture, the second largest Japanese capital and the center of commerce and culture. In the following year, Kawakami published her second novella Breasts and Eggs, which dynamically explores the inner conflicts of an adolescent girl, who refuses to communicate with her mother except through writing.
Career
Kawakami started her career as a singer songwriter before making her literary debut with the prose poem, "Sentan de sasuwa sasareruwa soraeewa" in 2006. In 2009, Kawakami published her first full-length novel, Heaven. Gaining inspiration from Nietzsche"s Thus Spoke Zarathustra, the work takes up the theme of bullying in middle school and addresses the ultimate question of good and evil.
This novel established Kawakami"s position in contemporary Japanese literature only three years after her debut.
In her subsequent works, Kawakami continues to address existential questions such as life, death, and sexuality, giving voice to the feeling of disorientation that people innately harbor but which often goes unexpressed. Her third novel Longingcaptures the dizzying sensations of experiencing the world through the eyes of children, shifting between the perspectives of a boy and a girl.
Alongside these works of prose fiction, Kawakami has published experimental works that combine astute thought and feminine sensibility in a heightened poetic style. Her versatility in style and genre is partly what makes her a unique writer
Her poetic works explore experimental language and rhythm, and have received high praise for their lyricism and linguistic and philosophical diversity.
Prizes for books
2007: Tsubouchi Shoyo Prize for Young Emerging Writers for My Ego Ratio, My Teeth, and the World
2008: Akutagawa Prize for Breasts and Eggs
2009: Nakahara Chuya Prize for Sentan de sasuwa sasareruwa soraeewa
2010: Ministry of Education"s Fine Arts Award for Debut Work for Heaven
2010: Murasaki Shikibu Prize for Heaven
2013: Takami June Prize for Water Vessel
2013: Tanizaki Prize for Dreams of Love, Etc.