, real name , born January 1, 1935, is a Japanese author of children's literature, picture books, non-fiction, and essays in Shōwa and

Heisei period The is the period of Japanese history corresponding to the reign of Emperor Emeritus Akihito from 8 January 1989 until his abdication on 30 April 2019. The Heisei era started on 8 January 1989, the day after the death of the Emperor Hirohit ...

in Japan. Her most famous work ''

Kiki's Delivery Service is a 1989 Japanese Anime, animated fantasy film written, produced, and directed by Hayao Miyazaki, adapted from the Kiki's Delivery Service (novel), 1985 novel by Eiko Kadono. It was animated by Studio Ghibli for Tokuma Shoten, Yamato Transpor ...

'', released in 1985, was made into an anime film by

Hayao Miyazaki is a Japanese animator, director, producer, screenwriter, author, and manga artist. A co-founder of Studio Ghibli, he has attained international acclaim as a masterful storyteller and creator of Japanese animated feature films, and is widel ...

, and spawned a series of sequel novels. In 2018, she won the

Hans Christian Andersen Award The Hans Christian Andersen Awards are two literary awards given by the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY), recognising one living author and one living illustrator for their "lasting contribution to children's literature". Th ...

. Currently, she serves as a guest professor at the

Nihon Fukushi University is a private university with its main campus at Mihama, Aichi, and other campuses at Nagoya and Handa, also in Aichi Prefecture, Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is ...

Aichi Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshū. Aichi Prefecture has a population of 7,552,873 () and a geographic area of with a population density of . Aichi Prefecture borders Mie Prefecture to the west, Gifu Prefecture ...

Biography

Kadono was born in Tokyo, Japan. As a child during the

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, she was evacuated to North Japan. She attended and graduated with a degree in

English literature English literature is literature written in the English language from United Kingdom, its crown dependencies, the Republic of Ireland, the United States, and the countries of the former British Empire. ''The Encyclopaedia Britannica'' defines E ...

from

Waseda University , mottoeng = Independence of scholarship , established = 21 October 1882 , type = Private , endowment = , president = Aiji Tanaka , city = Shinjuku , state = Tokyo , country = Japan , students = 47,959 , undergrad = 39,382 , postgrad ...

. After graduation in 1960 at the age of 25, she emigrated to

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

where she spent two years. She wrote a non-fiction story called ''Brazil and My Friend Luizinho'' (Ruijinnyo shōnen, Burajiru o tazunete), based on her experience at that time, about a Brazilian boy who loves dancing

samba Samba (), also known as samba urbano carioca (''urban Carioca samba'') or simply samba carioca (''Carioca samba''), is a Brazilian music genre that originated in the Afro-Brazilian communities of Rio de Janeiro in the early 20th century. Havi ...

. ''Brazil'' was released in 1970. Kadono stated that living through World War II sparked her rebellious nature and had a profound impact on the way she viewed the world. She has published almost two hundred works, mainly books for children, including picture books and prose works for older children, as well as essay collections. Her first successful children's book, published ''Ôdorabô Bula Bula shi'' (''The Robber Bla-Bla''), was published in 1981. In 1985, she published the children's novel '' Majo no Takkyūbin'' (魔女の宅急便, ''Kiki's Delivery Service''), about a young witch-in-training who starts a delivery service in a seaside town of Koriko. The book received several awards, including the Noma Prize for Children's Literature, the Shogakukan Children's Publication Culture Award, and the IBBY Honor List. It was adapted into a film by

in 1989 and became one of his most popular films. The book was also adapted into a

live-action film Live action (or live-action) is a form of cinematography or videography that uses photography instead of animation. Some works combine live-action with animation to create a live-action animated film. Live-action is used to define film, video ga ...

in 2014, directed by

Takashi Shimizu Takashi Shimizu (清水崇 ''Shimizu Takashi'', born 27 July 1972) is a Japanese filmmaker. He is best known for being the creator of the ''Ju-On'' franchise, and directing four of its films, internationally, in both Japan and the U.S. Accor ...

. She has written eight sequels to ''Kikis''.

Works

; ''Kiki's Delivery Service'' novels * ''

'' (1985) * (1993) * (2000) * (2004) * (2007) * (2009) * (2016) * (2017) * (2022) ; Other works *''Aku Ingin Makan Spageti'' (1979) *''Grandpa's Soup'' (1989), with illustrator Satomi Ichikawa *''Sarada De Genki'' (2005)

Awards

Kadono won the 2018

for Writing. The judges described her work as having "an ineffable charm, compassion, and élan" and praised her inspirational female characters as "singularly self-determining and enterprising."

References

External links

*
J'Lit , Authors : Eiko Kadono , Books from Japan
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kadono, Eiko 1935 births Living people People from Tokyo Waseda University alumni Japanese essayists Japanese non-fiction writers Japanese children's writers Japanese women children's writers 20th-century Japanese women writers 21st-century Japanese women writers