is a Japanese writer. She has been nominated three times for 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 ...

, and won the prize in 2019. She has also won the Dazai Osamu Prize, the

Mishima Yukio Prize The is a Japanese literary award presented annually. It was established in 1988 in memory of author Yukio Mishima. The Mishima Yukio Prize is explicitly intended for work that "breaks new ground for the future of literature," and prize winners t ...

, the Kawai Hayao Story Prize, and the Noma Literary New Face Prize.

Biography

Imamura was born in

Hiroshima is the capital of Hiroshima Prefecture in Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 1,199,391. The gross domestic product (GDP) in Greater Hiroshima, Hiroshima Urban Employment Area, was US$61.3 billion as of 2010. Kazumi Matsui has b ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

in 1980, and later moved to

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 ...

to attend university. She wrote her first story, a novella originally titled , while working a temporary job. ''Atarashii musume'' won the 26th Dazai Osamu Prize in 2010, and was published with her short story in one volume under the new title ', which then won the 24th

. In 2017, Imamura received the 5th Kawai Hayao Story Prize for her 2016 book '. ''Ahiru'' was also nominated for the 155th

, but the prize went to

Sayaka Murata Sayaka Murata (村田沙耶香 ''Murata Sayaka''; born August 14, 1979) is a Japanese writer. She has won the Gunzo Prize for New Writers, the Mishima Yukio Prize, the Noma Literary New Face Prize, and the Akutagawa Prize. Biography Murata ...

. That same year Imamura won the 39th Noma Literary New Face Prize for ', a book about a junior high school girl in a family that becomes increasingly involved in a

new religious movement A new religious movement (NRM), also known as a new religion, is a religious or Spirituality, spiritual group that has modern origins and is peripheral to its society's dominant religious culture. NRMs can be novel in origin, or they can be part ...

, a societal subject dubbed as " shūkyō nisei". ''Hoshi no ko'' was also nominated for the 156th

, but the prize went to first-time writer Shinsuke Numata. In 2019, Imamura received her third Akutagawa Prize nomination, for her novel '. The book, a first-person account of a woman watching her neighbor, won the 161st Akutagawa Prize. Imamura lives in

with her husband and daughter.

Recognition

* 2010: 26th Dazai Osamu Prize * 2011: 24th

* 2017: 5th Kawai Hayao Story Prize * 2017: 39th Noma Literary New Face Prize * 2019: 161st

(2019上)

Selected works

* ',

Chikuma Shobō is a Japanese book publisher headquartered in , Taitō, Tokyo. Founded in 1940 by Furuta Akira (1906–1973) in cooperation with the writer and critic Yoshimi Usui, it first published the intellectual monthly ''Tembo'' (Views) in 1946. In 1953 ...

, 2011, * ', Shoshi Kankanbo, 2016, * ', Asahi Shimbun Shuppan, 2017, * ', Asahi Shimbun Shuppan, 2019,

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Imamura, Natsuko 1980 births Living people 21st-century Japanese novelists 21st-century Japanese women writers Japanese women novelists Writers from Hiroshima Akutagawa Prize winners Yukio Mishima Prize winners