Chisako Wakatake
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Chisako Wakatake | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Wakatake in 2022 | |
| Native name | 若竹 千佐子 |
| Born | 1954 (age 70–71) Tōno, Iwate, Japan |
| Occupation | Writer |
| Language | Japanese |
| Alma mater | Iwate University |
| Genre | Fiction |
| Notable works | Ora ora de hitori igu mo |
| Notable awards | |
Chisako Wakatake (若竹 千佐子, Wakatake Chisako; born 1954) is a Japanese writer. Her 2017 book Ora ora de hitori igu mo won the Akutagawa Prize and the Bungei Prize.
Wakatake was born in 1954 in Tōno, Iwate, Japan.[1] She started writing while in school, but after graduating from Iwate University she worked briefly as a teacher, then married and became a housewife.[2][3] While working at home Wakatake wrote occasionally and won a small local literary prize for a story she submitted, but she never seriously pursued a writing career.[1][4] At the age of 55, after the death of her husband, she started writing full-time, drawing on her own experiences of age and loneliness.[5]
Wakatake's first book, Ora ora de hitori igu mo (I'll Live By Myself), about a Tōhoku dialect-speaking widow coping with life alone after the death of her husband, was published in 2017.[6] Ora ora de hitori igu mo won the 54th Bungei Prize, making Wakatake the oldest recipient of the award, at age 63.[7] Shortly thereafter it also won the 158th Akutagawa Prize, making Wakatake the second oldest recipient of the award.[6] After winning the Akutagawa Prize, Wakatake visited her hometown of Tōno, Iwate, where she received a local citizens' honor recognizing her for raising awareness of the town throughout Japan.[8]
Critic Roland Kelts, writing for The Times Literary Supplement, has described the themes of Wakatake's work as "loneliness and repressed turmoil."[9]
Personal life
Wakatake lives in Kisarazu, Chiba Prefecture.[1]
