is a Japanese writer. She is best known for her debut novel ''Hunchback'', for which she won 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 ...

in 2023.

Biography

Ichikawa was born in 1979. She has

congenital myopathy Congenital myopathy is a very broad term for any muscle disorder present at birth. This defect primarily affects skeletal muscle fibres and causes muscular weakness and/or hypotonia. Congenital myopathies account for one of the top neuromuscular di ...

and uses a wheelchair and a respirator, the latter which she has used since age 13. She has an older sister, who also has congenital myopathy. She decided to become a novelist at age 20, as she felt her career options were limited due to her disability. She first began to write

light novels A is a type of popular literature novel from Japan usually classified as young adult fiction, generally targeting teens to twenties or older. The definition is very vague, and wide-ranging. The abbreviation of "''raito noberu''" is or ...

, but grew discouraged after a light novel she wrote failed to win a prize, and decided to instead write serious fiction. She graduated from

Waseda University Waseda University (Japanese: ), abbreviated as or , is a private university, private research university in Shinjuku, Tokyo. Founded in 1882 as the Tōkyō Professional School by Ōkuma Shigenobu, the fifth Prime Minister of Japan, prime ministe ...

. She grew up reading the ''

Paddington Bear Paddington Bear (though his name is just Paddington; the "Bear" simply serves to confirm his species; and also known as Paddington Brown for some sources) is a fictional character in British children's literature. He first appeared on 13 October ...

'' books by

Michael Bond Thomas Michael Bond (13 January 1926 – 27 June 2017) was an English author. He is best known for a series of children's books featuring the character of Paddington Bear. More than 35 million books in the series have been sold worldwide, ...

and the St. Clare's books by

Enid Blyton Enid Mary Blyton (11 August 1897 – 28 November 1968) was an English children's writer, whose books have been worldwide bestsellers since the 1930s, selling more than 600 million copies. Her books are still enormously popular and have been tra ...

; she named

Dostoyevsky Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky. () was a Russian novelist, short story writer, essayist and journalist. He is regarded as one of the greatest novelists in both Russian and world literature, and many of his works are considered highly influenti ...

's ''

The Idiot ''The Idiot'' (Reforms of Russian orthography, pre-reform Russian: ; post-reform ) is a novel by the 19th-century Russian author Fyodor Dostoevsky. It was first published serially in the journal ''The Russian Messenger'' in 1868–1869. The titl ...

'' and

Hermann Hesse Hermann Karl Hesse (; 2 July 1877 – 9 August 1962) was a Germans, German-Swiss people, Swiss poet and novelist, and the 1946 Nobel Prize in Literature laureate. His interest in Eastern philosophy, Eastern religious, spiritual, and philosophic ...

's '' Siddhartha'' as having influenced her. At university, she began to research the representation of disabled people in literature, which inspired the writing of her novel ''Hunchback'', about a profoundly disabled woman, Izawa, who pays her male caretaker to have sex with her. ''Hunchback'' was published in 2023. The novel was well-received: it sold 230,000 copies; Japan Times described it as "dark and funny". She is the first disabled writer to win the Akutagawa Prize. Novelist Keiichiro Hirano, who was on the jury for the Akutagawa Prize for that year, stated that the book "knocks down conventional wisdom and common sense centered on able-bodied people".

Viking Press Viking Press (formally Viking Penguin, also listed as Viking Books) is an American publishing company owned by Penguin Random House. It was founded in New York City on March 1, 1925, by Harold K. Guinzburg and George S. Oppenheimer and then acqu ...

acquired the English rights to the novel, and a translation by Polly Barton was released in 2025. The translation received starred reviews from both

Publishers Weekly ''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of ...

and

Kirkus Reviews ''Kirkus Reviews'' is an American book review magazine founded in 1933 by Virginia Kirkus. The magazine's publisher, Kirkus Media, is headquartered in New York City. ''Kirkus Reviews'' confers the annual Kirkus Prize to authors of fiction, no ...

, both of which praised the social commentary of the novel. The English translation was longlisted for the

International Booker Prize The International Booker Prize (formerly known as the Man Booker International Prize) is an international literary award hosted in the United Kingdom. The introduction of the International Prize to complement the Man Booker Prize, as the Boo ...

; the judges praised ''Hunchback'' for its criticism of ableism and sexism.

Works

*''Hunchback'' (), 2023 * Ophelia No. 23 (), 2024

Awards and recognition

*2023

Bungakukai is a Japanese monthly literary magazine published by Bungeishunjū as a oriented publication. History and profile The first version of ''Bungakukai'' was published from 1893 to 1898. The founders were the first generation romantic authors in ...

Prize for New Writers for ''Hunchback'' *2023

for ''Hunchback'' *Longlisted for the

in 2025 for ''Hunchback''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ichikawa, Saou Living people 1979 births Waseda University alumni Japanese women writers Writers with disabilities Akutagawa Prize winners Japanese wheelchair users