Skip to main content

Japanese Writer Drinks Beer After Winning Prize.

A year after his wife won the Naoki Prize, writer Takami Ito wins the prestigious Akutagawa Prize. He celebrates by having a beer. Mmmm!
Ito is married to Mitsuyo Kakuta, winner of the 2005 Naoki Prize. It is the first instance where a husband has won an Akutagawa Prize and a wife the Naoki Prize, though novelist couple Mariko Koike and Yoshinaga Fujita have both won the Naoki.

"My mind went blank," Ito said. "I didn't know whether to say 'thank you' or ask if it was true (when informed about winning the prize)."

Kakuta was delighted for her husband.

"It's great," she said. "Congratulations."
(Via Elegant Variation)

But what is the Akutagawa Prize?
It is arguably Japan's most prestigious literary award.

From Wikipedia:
Established in 1935 by Kikuchi Kan, the editor of Bungei ShunjĹ« magazine, in memory of novelist Akutagawa Ryunosuke, it is sponsored by the Association for the Promotion of Japanese Literature (Nihon Bungaku ShinkĹŤ Kai), and is awarded semiannually in January and July to the best story of a purely literary nature published in a newspaper or magazine by a new or rising author. The winner receives a pocket watch and a cash award of 1 million yen. Short stories and novellas win the prize more frequently than do full-length novels. Because of its prestige and the considerable attention the winner receives from the media, it is Japan’s most sought after literary prize.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Lesson: Commemorative Covers are Lame.

Well, I got the first day cover that commemorates the 35th anniversary of the establishment diplomatic relations between China and Malaysia that I mentioned a couple of posts ago. Except that it's not a first day cover, it's a commemorative cover, which is a slightly different beast. I guess I should read the news article properly next time! The difference between the two is that first day covers are specially-designed envelopes stuck on with specially-designed stamps, and marked with a specially-designed postmark. A commemorative cover is a specially-designed envelope... and that's it. All in all, it's an unremarkable affair, especially if you're used to well-designed first day covers (not that Malaysian first day covers are well-designed... but I digress). Oh sure, a commemorative cover has a stamp printed right on to it but that's just like an overglorified aerogramme. Lame. On the whole, what a disappointment. I haven't been collecting first day cover

HOWTO: Get Rid of Silverfish

The bane of every book collecting person: the Silverfish. DUN DUN DUNNNNN!!! How to get rid of them? If one book has been infected, place it inside an air-tight plastic bag along with some silica gel desiccant. The silica gel is important to get rid of moisture, because you will now place the sealed plastic bag with the book in it inside the freezer. Leave it in there for a couple of days so that those bugs catch their death of cold. If you're feeling particularly paranoid, (like I usually am) feel free to leave the plastic bag in there for a week. If they're not dead, then you might likely have an infestation of zombie silverfish , which is out of the scope of this blogpost. But what if a whole colony of silverfish decided to invade your whole bookcase? Then you have to make sure you're ready for war. Place a generous amount of silica gel (or if you can find it, diatomaceous earth) behind your books at the back of the shelves so that moisture levels remain low.

Send me to Clarion West! - My crowdfunding effort.

I just launched my crowdfunding page to help fund my Clarion West trip on GoGetFunding and I am nervous as heck. Anyway here's a link . Any help or support much appreciated even if it's just to share the link around. Thank you so much!