TOKYO, July 17, Kyodo
Novelist Tomoka Shibasaki won the Akutagawa literary award for up-and-coming authors of pure literature, while the Naoki Prize, another renowned award for popular fiction, went to novelist Hiroyuki Kurokawa, the selection committee said Thursday.
Shibasaki, a 40-year-old native of Osaka, won the 151th prize for her work “Haru No Niwa” (Spring garden), which depicts the relationship between a woman who moves to Tokyo and her neighbor, who lives in a house that she started yearning for after seeing it in a photo book.
“I still don’t believe it,” said Shibasaki, who won the award after being nominated for the fourth time.
Novelist Nobuko Takagi, a member of the selection committee, said her work was of a much higher quality and maturity compared with her previous novels nominated for the award.
Kurokawa, a 65-year-old native of Ehime Prefecture, was awarded the prize for “Hamon” (Excommunication), the story of a gang member and a construction consultant trying to find some stolen money.