Nanae Aoyama (青山 七恵, Aoyama Nanae, born January 20, 1983) is a Japanese fiction writer. She has won the Akutagawa Prize, the Bungei Prize, and the Yasunari Kawabata Literary Prize. Her work has been translated into Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, German, French, and Italian.

Early life and education

Aoyama was born in Saitama Prefecture, Japan.^[1] She graduated from the University of Tsukuba, where she studied library science.^[2][3]

Career

After graduating from university, Aoyama moved to Tokyo to take a job at a travel firm. She began writing her first novel, Mado no akari, while working full-time.^[4] Mado no akari was published in 2005, and won the 42nd Bungei Prize.^[1] In 2007 Hitori biyori, Aoyama's story about freeters working part-time jobs, won the 136th Akutagawa Prize.^[4][5] After winning the Akutagawa Prize, Aoyama quit her office job to pursue writing full-time.^[6] In 2009 she won the Yasunari Kawabata Literary Prize for her short story Kakera, which was published in a collection of the same name.^[7] She was the youngest author ever to win the prize.^[8] Watashi no kareshi, Aoyama's first full-length novel, was published in 2011.^[6] In 2016 she collaborated with illustrator Satoe Tone on the children's book Watashi Otsuki-sama.

Writing style

Aoyama has cited Françoise Sagan and Kazuo Ishiguro as literary influences.^[6][4] Literary scholar Judith Pascoe proposed that Wuthering Heights was a literary influence on Aoyama's work, particularly Meguri ito, and later confirmed this influence with Aoyama herself.^[9]

Recognition

• 2005 42nd Bungei Prize^[1]
• 2007 136th Akutagawa Prize (2006下)^[10]
• 2009 Yasunari Kawabata Literary Prize^[7]