Taeko Tomioka (, ''Tomioka Taeko''; July 28, 1935 – April 6, 2023) was a Japanese writer. She was born in

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 ...

, was educated at Osaka Women's College, worked as a high school English teacher and moved to

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

in 1960. Tomioka visited

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

in 1964 and returned home to Japan in 1966. In 1969, she married Suga Kishio. Tomioka published several collections of poems. ''Henrei'' (1958) won the Mr. H Prize (H-shi Shō), awarded by the Association of Contemporary Japanese Poets. ''Monogatari no akuru hi'' (1961) received the 'Muro Saisei Prize. Tomioka also wrote a poetical drama ''Matsuri'' (1959) and a screenplay ''Shinju ten no Amijima'' (Double suicide, 1968). In 1971, she published the novel ''Oka ni mukatte hito wa narabu'' (Facing the Hills they stand). In 1974, Tomioka wrote ''Shokubutsu sai'', which received the Tamura Toshiko Prize. In 1974, she published ''Meido no kazoku'' (Family in hell), which received the Women's Literature Prize. Her 1983 novel ''Namiutsu tochi '' was published in English as ''Building Waves'' (2012: ). Tomioka also translated some English works by authors such as Gertrude Stein into Japanese. She has also produced essays on literature from a

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...

viewpoint. In 1993, she published ''Nobuyoshi Araki: Akt-Tokyo, 1971-1991'', a book of erotic photography. In 1997, Tomioka wrote ''Hiberunia kikō'' (A journey to Ireland), which received the

Noma Literary Prize The Noma Literary Prize (''Noma Bungei Shō'') was established in 1941 by the Noma Service Association (''Noma Hōkō Kai'') in accordance with the last wishes of Seiji Noma (1878–1938), founder and first president of the Kodansha publishing c ...

. In 2000, ''The Funeral of a Giraffe: Seven Stories'', a collection of her stories translated from Japanese to English, was published. Tomioka died on April 6, 2023, at the age of 87.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tomioka, Taeko 1935 births 2023 deaths Japanese women novelists Japanese women poets Yomiuri Prize winners Writers from Osaka