is a Japanese writer. Her 2017 book '' Ora ora de hitori igu mo'' won the

Akutagawa Prize The is a Japanese literary award presented biannually. Because of its prestige and the considerable attention the winner receives from the media, it is, along with the Naoki Prize, one of Japan's most sought after literary prizes. History The ...

and the

Bungei Prize The is a Japanese literary award given by publishing company Kawade Shobō Shinsha , formerly , is a publisher founded in 1886 in Japan and headquartered in Sendagaya, Shibuya, Tokyo. It publishes the magazine '' Bungei'' and administers the Bun ...

Biography

Wakatake was born in 1954 in

Tōno, Iwate is a city in Iwate Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 26,378, and a population density of 31.6 persons per km2 in 10,759 households. The total area of the city is . Tōno is known as "The City of Folklore" for its rura ...

, Japan. She started writing while in school, but after graduating from

Iwate University Iwate University ( ja, 岩手大学, ''Iwate Daigaku'', abbreviated as ''Gandai'' or ''岩大'') is a national university located in Morioka, Japan. Founded in 1876 as the , the school was formally established as Iwate University in 1949. With it ...

she worked briefly as a

teacher A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching. ''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. whe ...

, then married and became a

housewife A housewife (also known as a homemaker or a stay-at-home mother/mom/mum) is a woman whose role is running or managing her family's home—housekeeping, which includes caring for her children; cleaning and maintaining the home; making, buying an ...

. 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. 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. Wakatake's first book, ''Ora ora de hitori igu mo'' (''I'll Live By Myself''), about a

Tōhoku dialect The , commonly called 東北弁 ''Tōhoku-ben'', is a group of the Japanese dialects spoken in the Tōhoku region, the northeastern region of Honshū. Toward the northern part of Honshū, the Tōhoku dialect can differ so dramatically from standa ...

-speaking widow coping with life alone after the death of her husband, was published in 2017. ''Ora ora de hitori igu mo'' won the 54th

, making Wakatake the oldest recipient of the award, at age 63. Shortly thereafter it also won the 158th

, making Wakatake the second oldest recipient of the award. After winning the

, Wakatake visited her hometown of

, where she received a local citizens' honor recognizing her for raising awareness of the town throughout Japan. Critic Roland Kelts, writing for ''

The Times Literary Supplement ''The Times Literary Supplement'' (''TLS'') is a weekly literary review published in London by News UK, a subsidiary of News Corp. History The ''TLS'' first appeared in 1902 as a supplement to ''The Times'' but became a separate publication i ...

'', has described the themes of Wakatake's work as "loneliness and repressed turmoil."

Personal life

Wakatake lives in

Kisarazu is a city located in Chiba Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 136,023 in 63,431 households and a population density of 980 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . Geography Kisarazu is located in the midwest ...

Chiba Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Chiba Prefecture has a population of 6,278,060 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of . Chiba Prefecture borders Ibaraki Prefecture to the north, Saitama Prefecture to the ...

Recognition

* 2017 54th

* 2018 158th

(2017下)

Bibliography

* ''Ora ora de hitori igumo'', Kawade Shobō Shinsha, 2017,

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wakatake, Chisako 1954 births Living people 21st-century Japanese novelists 21st-century Japanese women writers Japanese women novelists Akutagawa Prize winners