Yumiko Shirai
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Yumiko Shirai | |
|---|---|
| Born | March 15, 1967 Ehime Prefecture, Japan |
| Occupation | Manga artist |
| Language | Japanese |
| Period | 21st century |
| Genre | Feminist, science fiction |
| Notable works | Wombs |
| Notable awards | Nihon SF Taisho Award |
| Website | |
| yumikoubou | |
Yumiko Shirai (Japanese: 白井弓子; born March 15, 1967) is a Japanese manga artist. She is best known for her manga Wombs, winner of the 2017 Nihon SF Taisho Award.
Born in Ehime Prefecture,[1] Yumiko Shirai is a graduate of the Kyoto City University of Arts and the Oil Painting Department of the Faculty of Fine Arts.[1]
In 2007 her manga Tenken, published as a doujinshi (self-publication), won the encouragement award in the manga category at the 11th Japan Media Arts Festival.[2][3] It was then published as a magazine by Sanctuary Publishing in 2008.
From 2009 onwards Yumiko Shirai created the manga Wombs, published as a monthly series in the pre-publication magazine Monthly Ikki by Shogakukan.[4][5] Following the magazine's demise, Wombs continued to be published online, and the author took five years to deliver the fifth and final volume.[6] In 2010, Wombs was included in the jury selection for the 14th Japan Media Arts Festival in the maga category.[7][8]
From 2013 to 2015 she published a new series, Rafnas, in the magazine Monthly Action from Futabasha, which was in turn part of the jury's selection for the manga category.[9]
In 2017 Wombs was awarded the 37th Nihon SF Taisho Award joining the exclusive club of manga to have received this prize, which rewards a work of SF from all the arts.[10]
In 2017 Yumiko Shirai became a member of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of Japan.[11][12]
In 2020, Yumiko Shirai began publishing a series entitled Wombs Cradle, a prequel to Wombs, which was published on publisher Futabasha's pre-publication website.[13]
In 2021 the Wombs series was translated and published in French by Akata and was met with a positive reception, with critics noting that the manga renewed the themes of science fiction.[14][15][16][17][18]
Techniques and influences
Yumiko Shirai creates her sketches on paper before finalising them using graphics software such as Painter, Photoshop[19] and Clip Studio Paint. Shirai said she was influenced by Yoshikazu Yasuhiko's manga Arion, but also by authors such as Moto Hagio, Yumiko Oshima and Mutsumi Hagiiwa.[19]
Awards
- 2007: encouragement in the manga category at the 11th Japan Media Arts Festival for Tenkensai.
- 2010: jury selection in the manga category of the 14th Japan Media Arts Festival for Wombs.
- 2015: jury selection in the manga category of the 19th Japan Media Arts Festival for Rafnas.
- 2017: 37th Nihon SF Taisho Award for Wombs.
- 2017: Ehime culture award for Love Face.[20]
