Kaoru Kitamura
| Kaoru Kitamura | |
|---|---|
| Born |
December 28, 1949 Sugito, Saitama, Japan |
| Occupation | Writer |
| Nationality | Japanese |
| Genre | Mystery |
Kaoru Kitamura (åŒ—æ‘ è–« Kitamura Kaoru) (born December 28, 1949) is the pen name of Kazuo Miyamoto (宮本 和男 Miyamoto Kazuo), a popular contemporary Japanese writer, mainly of short stories.
Biography
Kitamura was born in the town of Sugito in Saitama Prefecture. He studied literature at Waseda University in Tokyo, and was a member of the Waseda Mystery Club while a student there. However, after graduating from Waseda in 1972, he returned to Saitama to become a language teacher at Kasukabe High School, his alma mater. He began his fiction writing career only after teaching for almost twenty years, and stopped teaching in 1993 to devote himself completely to writing once established as an author.
He made his writing debut using a pen name. Initially, because the unnamed first-person protagonist of his early works was a female college student, and the name Kaoru is gender ambiguous, it was widely speculated that Kitamura was female. This speculation persisted until he revealed his identity upon accepting the Mystery Writers of Japan Award in 1991.
Works
Kitamura is known as a writer of mysteries, and rather than the detective and crime stories of traditional mystery, his work mainly focuses on the logical resolution of more "ordinary" puzzles and questions encountered in everyday life. He is considered a pioneer of this style of mystery in Japan, called "everyday mystery" (日常ã®è¬Ž nichijÅ no nazo), which has since been taken up by many other writers.
He made his literary debut in 1989, with the publication of Soratobu Uma (空飛ã¶é¦¬?, "Flying Horse") , and has been writing prolifically since then. He won the 44th Mystery Writers of Japan Award in 1991 for Yoru no Semi (夜ã®è‰?, "Night Locusts") , the 6th Honkaku Mystery Award in 2006 for Nippon KÅka no Nazo (ニッãƒãƒ³ç¡¬è²¨ã®è¬Ž?, "Japanese Coin Mystery") , and the 2006 Baka-Misu Award for the same work. In 2009, after repeated previous nominations, he won the prestigious Naoki Prize (the 141st) for Sagi to Yuki (é·ºã¨é›ª?, "Herons and Snow") . His works have been adapted for film, television, and manga.
Selected bibliography
| Year | Japanese Title | Series |
| 1989 | Soratobu Uma (空飛ã¶é¦¬?, "Flying Horse") | Enshi-san (円紫ã•ã‚“?) series |
| 1990 | Yoru no Semi (夜ã®è‰?, "Night Locusts") | Enshi-san series |
| 1991 | Aki no Hana (秋ã®èŠ±?, "Autumn Flowers") | Enshi-san series |
| 1992 | Roku no Miya no Himegimi (å…ã®å®®ã®å§«å›?, "Princess in Rokunomiya") | Enshi-san series |
| 1995 | Skip (スã‚ップ Sukippu) | "Time and Man" (時ã¨äºº Toki to Hito) trilogy |
| 1997 | Turn (ターン TÄn) | "Time and Man" trilogy |
| 1998 | Asagiri (æœéœ§?, "Morning Fog") | Enshi-san series |
| 2001 | Reset (リセット Risetto) | "Time and Man" trilogy |
| 2003 | Michi no Hi (è¡—ã®ç¯?, "City Lights") | Becky-san (ベッã‚ーã•ã‚“ BekkÄ«-san) series |
| 2005 | Hari no Ten (玻璃ã®å¤©?, "Glass Heaven") | Becky-san series |
| 2005 | Nippon KÅka no Nazo (ニッãƒãƒ³ç¡¬è²¨ã®è¬Ž?, "Japanese Coin Mystery") | |
| 2009 | Sagi to Yuki (é·ºã¨é›ª?, "Herons and Snow") | Becky-san series |
See also
References
- Emmerich, Michael (2008). Read Real Japanese Fiction. Tokyo: Kodansha International. ISBN 978-4-7700-3058-0. (Includes a brief English biography of Kitamura)
- "北æ‘è–«". Aga-search.com. Retrieved July 30, 2010.
- "北æ‘è–«ã¨ã¯ – ã¯ã¦ãªã‚ーワード". Hatena. Retrieved July 30, 2010.
External links
- J'Lit | Authors : Kaoru Kitamura | Books from Japan(English)
- 夜ã®è‰ã€€(yoru no semi): Night Locust by Kaoru Kitamura
- Turn (JAPAN 2001) English language review of film adaption of Turn
- http://www.kitamura-tei.com Japanese language fan site
- 北æ‘è–« Japanese language Wikipedia article
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