Tawada Yōko

Born in Tokyo in 1960. Moved to Germany after graduating from Waseda University in 1982, and made her debut as a writer in Germany in 1987. Won the Gunzo Prize for New Writers in 1991 for “Kakato o nakushite” (Missing Heels) and the Akutagawa Prize in 1993 for Inu mukoiri (trans. by Margaret Matsutani as The Bridegroom Was a Dog). Other awards include the Tanizaki Jun’ichirō Prize in 2003 for Yōgisha no yakō ressha (Suspects on the Night Train) and the Noma Literary Prize in 2011 for Yuki no renshūsei (trans. by Susan Bernofsky as Memoirs of a Polar Bear). International awards include the Kleist Prize (awarded for an outstanding literary work in German) in 2004 and a US National Book Award (in the “Translated Literature” category) for Kentōshi (trans. by Margaret Matsutani as The Emissary) in 2018.