is a Japanese writer from

Osaka is a Cities designated by government ordinance of Japan, designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the List of cities in Japan, third-most populous city in J ...

. She has won numerous Japanese literary awards, including the

Akutagawa Prize The is a Japanese literary award presented biannually. Because of its prestige and the considerable attention the winner receives from the media, it is, along with the Naoki Prize, one of Japan's most sought after literary prizes. History Th ...

, the Noma Literary New Face Prize, the Dazai Osamu Prize, the Kawabata Yasunari Prize, and the Oda Sakunosuke Prize.

Early life and education

Tsumura was born in

, Japan in 1978. While commuting to school she read science fiction novels, especially the work of

William Gibson William Ford Gibson (born March 17, 1948) is an American-Canadian speculative fiction writer and essayist widely credited with pioneering the science fiction subgenre known as cyberpunk. Beginning his writing career in the late 1970s, his ear ...

, Philip K. Dick, and

Kurt Vonnegut Kurt Vonnegut ( ; November 11, 1922 – April 11, 2007) was an American author known for his Satire, satirical and darkly humorous novels. His published work includes fourteen novels, three short-story collections, five plays, and five nonfict ...

, and began writing her own novel, ''Man'ītā'' (''Maneater''), while still a third-year university student. ''Man'ītā'' won the 21st Dazai Osamu Prize and was later published in book form under the title ''Kimi wa eien ni soitsura yori wakai''.

Career

In her first job out of college, Tsumura experienced

workplace harassment Workplace harassment is belittling or threatening behavior directed at an individual worker or a group of workers. Workplace harassment has gained interest among practitioners and researchers as it is becoming one of the most sensitive areas of ef ...

and quit after ten months to retrain and find another position, an experience that inspired her to write stories about young workers. In 2008 Tsumura won the Noma Literary New Face Prize for her book ''Myūjikku buresu yū!!'' (''Music Bless You!!''), and in 2009 her novel ''Potosu raimu no fune'' (''The Lime Pothos Boat''), about a young woman experiencing

precarious work Precarious work is a term that critics use to describe non-standard or temporary employment that may be poorly paid, insecure, unprotected, and unable to support a household. From this perspective, globalization, the shift from the manufacturing ...

, won the 140th

. Japanese literature scholar Kendall Heitzman described ''The Lime Pothos Boat'' as a "triumph" that "carefully depicts with great nuance a small cast of characters with competing interests and desires." Tsumura's book ''Wākāzu daijesuto'' (''Workers' Digest''), published in 2011, won the 28th Oda Sakunosuke Prize, and in 2013 her short story "Kyūsuitō to kame" ("The Water Tower and the Turtle") won the 39th Kawabata Yasunari Prize. The Japanese

Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology The , also known as MEXT, is one of the eleven ministries of Japan that compose part of the executive branch of the government of Japan. History The Meiji period, Meiji government created the first Ministry of Education in 1871. In January 2001 ...

recognized Tsumura's work with a New Artist award in 2016. Tsumura's writing often employs

Kansai-ben The is a group of Japanese dialects in the Kansai region (Kinki region) of Japan. In Japanese, is the common name and it is called in technical terms. The dialects of Kyoto and Osaka are known as , and were particularly referred to as suc ...

, a distinctive Japanese dialect spoken in

and surrounding cities.

Awards

* 2005 21st Dazai Osamu Prize for ''Man'ītā'' (''Maneater'') * 2008 30th Noma Literary New Face Prize for ''Myūjikku buresu yū!!'' (''Music Bless You!!'') *2008 26th Sakuya Konohana Prize * 2009 140th

(2008下) for ''Potosu raimu no fune'' (''The Lime Pothos Boat'') * 2011 28th Oda Sakunosuke Prize for ''Wākāzu daijesuto'' (''Workers' Digest'') * 2013 39th Kawabata Yasunari Prize for ''Kyūsuitō to Kame'' (''The Water Tower and The Turtle'') * 2016 MEXT Award for New Artists for ''Kono yo ni tayasui shigoto wa nai'' (''There's No Such Thing as an Easy Job'') *2017 27th Murasaki Shikibu Literature Prize for ''Fuyūrei Burajiru'' (''A Wandering Ghost in Brazil'')

Works

* ''Areguria to wa shigoto wa dekinai'', Chikuma Shobo, 2008, * ''Myūjikku buresu yū!!'' (''Music Bless You!!''), Kadokawa Shoten, 2008, * ''Kasōsuki no yukue'',

Kodansha is a Japanese privately held publishing company headquartered in Bunkyō, Tokyo. Kodansha publishes manga magazines which include ''Nakayoshi'', ''Morning (magazine), Morning'', ''Afternoon (magazine), Afternoon'', ''Evening (magazine), Eveni ...

, 2008, * ''Potosu raimu no fune'' (''The Lime Pothos Boat''),

, 2009, * ''Kimi wa eien ni soitsura yori wakai'', Chikuma Shobo, 2009, * ''Wākāzu daijesuto'' (''Workers' Digest''),

Shueisha is a Japanese publishing company headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. Shueisha is the largest publishing company in Japan. It was established in 1925 as the entertainment-related publishing division of Japanese publisher Shogakukan. The ...

, 2011, * ''Matomo na ie no kodomo wa inai'', Chikuma Shobo, 2011, * ''Yaritai koto wa nidone dake'',

, 2012, * ''Tonikaku uchi ni kaerimasu'',

Shinchosha is a publisher founded in 1896 in Japan and headquartered in , Shinjuku, Tokyo. Shinchosha is one of the sponsors of the Japan Fantasy Novel Award. Books * Haruki Murakami: '' Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World'' (1985), '' Ute ...

, 2012, * ''Kore kara oinori ni ikimasu'', Kadokawa Shoten, 2013, * ''Pōsuke'', Chūō Kōron Shinsha, 2013, * ''Evurishingu furouzu'', Bungei Shunjū, 2014, * ''Nidone towa tōku ni arite omō mono'',

, 2015, * ''Konoyoni tayasui shigoto wa nai'' : この世にたやすい仕事はない(''There's No Such Thing As An Easy Job''), Nikkei Business Publications Inc., 2015, , translated into English by Polly Barton, Bloomsbury Publishing, Inc. 2020-21. This is the first of Tsumura's books to be translated into English.Briefly reviewed in th
May 31, 2021 issue
of ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...

'', p.63. * ''Kuyokuyo manejimento'', Seiryūshuppan, 2016, * ''Makuramoto no hondana'', Jitsugyōnonihonsha, 2016, *''Fuyūrei Burajiru'' (''A Wandering Ghost in Brazil''), Bungei Shunjū, 2016, * ''Uesuto uingu'' (''West Wing''), Asahi Shimbun Shuppan, 2017, * ''Manuke na koyomi'', Heibonsha, 2017, * ''Disu izu za dei'' (''This is the Day''), Asahi Shimbun Shuppan, 2018, ——————— ;Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tsumura, Kikuko 21st-century Japanese novelists Living people 1978 births Japanese women novelists Writers from Osaka Akutagawa Prize winners 21st-century Japanese women writers