Akutagawa Prize awarded to Tetsushi Suwa, Naoki Prize goes to Kesako Matsui
The selection committee for the 137th Akutagawa and Naoki prizes (sponsored by the Society for the Promotion of Japanese Literature) met in Tokyo on July 17, awarding the Akutagawa Prize to Tetsushi Suwa's "Asatte no Hito (The Day-after-tomorrow Person)" and the Naoki Prize to Kesako Matsui's ">Yoshiwara Tebikigusa (Initiation to Yoshiwara)." The shortlist for the Naoki Prize included Tomihiko Morimi's "Yoru wa mijikashi arukeyo otome (The Night Is Short - Walk On, Young Maiden), a popular work among booksellers, and Manabu Makime's "Shikaotoko Aoniyoshi (The Fantastic Deer-Man)."
Mr. Suwa, a company employee, was born in 1969. He won the 50th Gunzo Prize for New Writers for the same novel. Ms. Matsui was born in 1953, and made her debut as a novelist in 1997. Her "Hido Gyobekarazu (Do Not Diverge from the Way of the Art) and "Nisemon (The Imposter)," both published in 2002, were shortlisted for the Naoki Prize.
*Some of the book titles are tentative translations.
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