"Breasts and Eggs" Wins Akutagawa Prize; Naoki Prize Goes to "My Man"

The selection committee for the 138th Akutagawa and Naoki Prizes convened in Tokyo on January 16, selecting Mieko Kawakami's "Breasts and Eggs" for the Akutagawa Prize, and Kazuki Sakuraba's "My Man" for the Naoki Prize. Both writers won after being nominated for the second consecutive time.

Kawakami was born in 1976. She debuted as a singer in 2002, and has released three albums to date. She has been publishing novels and poetry in literary magazines since 2005. Her prize-winning book "Breasts and Eggs" tells the story of three days in the life of a 39-year-old woman from Osaka. In order to have breast augmentation surgery, she, along with her daughter, goes up to Tokyo to visit her younger sister who is living there. This dynamic work, written in a fluid style with lively Osaka dialect, calls to mind Kawakami's favorite book, Higuchi Ichiyo's "Growing Up."

Sakuraba was born in 1971. She debuted in 1999 with "Quarantined City of 2015 AD: The Lonely Guardian." In 2007 she was nominated for the 137th Naoki Prize for "The Legend of The Akakuchibas," and also won the 60th Japan Mystery Writers' Association Award. "My Man" is a social novel written in an hauntingly beautiful yet powerful style. Hana, the heroine, is about to get married despite an ongoing affair with her adoptive father. The story begins in the glitter of Ginza, central Tokyo, and then flashes back in time to a dark winter scene in Okhotsk. Although some committee members raised concerns about the immorality of the novels, the deciding factors for awarding the prizes were the winners' prolific talent as writers and the recognition their works have received.


*Some of the book titles are tentative translations.
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