is a Japanese writer. Her book ''Hyakunen doro'' (''100 Years Mud'') won the 154th

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 49th Shincho Prize for New Writers.

Biography

Ishii was born in

Hirakata, Osaka file:Hirakata Park.jpg, 260px, Hirakata Park is a Cities of Japan, city in northeastern Osaka Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 397,681 in 183075 households and a population density of 6100 persons per km2. The total ...

and lived there during her early school years. She later moved to

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

, where she graduated from

Waseda University , abbreviated as , is a private university, private research university in Shinjuku, Tokyo. Founded in 1882 as the ''Tōkyō Senmon Gakkō'' by Ōkuma Shigenobu, the school was formally renamed Waseda University in 1902. The university has numerou ...

and worked at a variety of part-time jobs, including department store salesperson and snack hostess, while writing stories in her free time. After almost winning a literary prize at age 33 she moved back to her parents' home in

Osaka is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of 2. ...

to try writing full-time. In 2000 Ishii returned to

to pursue graduate study in

Buddhism Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and gra ...

at the

University of Tokyo , abbreviated as or UTokyo, is a public research university located in Bunkyō, Tokyo, Japan. Established in 1877, the university was the first Imperial University and is currently a Top Type university of the Top Global University Project by ...

. In 2014 Ishii moved to

Chennai Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

, where her husband worked as a Sanskrit language researcher, and she started working as a Japanese language teacher. She made her literary debut at age 54 with her novel ''Hyakunen doro'' (''100 Years Mud''), about the aftermath of a once-in-a-century flood. The story was based on her experiences in

during the

2015 South Indian floods The 2015 South India floods resulted from heavy rainfall generated by the annual northeast monsoon in November–December 2015. They affected the Coromandel Coast region of the South Indian states of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. More than 500 ...

. ''Hyakunen doro'' won the 49th Shincho Prize for New Writers. It also won the 158th

, which she shared with

Chisako Wakatake is a Japanese writer. Her 2017 book '' Ora ora de hitori igu mo'' won the Akutagawa Prize and the Bungei Prize. Biography Wakatake was born in 1954 in Tōno, Iwate, Japan. She started writing while in school, but after graduating from Iwate U ...

. She has named

Gabriel García Márquez Gabriel José de la Concordia García Márquez (; 6 March 1927 – 17 April 2014) was a Colombian novelist, short-story writer, screenwriter, and journalist, known affectionately as Gabo () or Gabito () throughout Latin America. Considered one ...

and

Yukio Mishima , born , was a Japanese author, poet, playwright, actor, model, Shintoist, Nationalism, nationalist, and founder of the , an unarmed civilian militia. Mishima is considered one of the most important Japanese authors of the 20th century. He was ...

as two of her favorite authors.

Recognition

* 2017 49th Shincho Prize for New Writers * 2018 158th

(2017下)

Works

* ''Hyakunen doro'',

Shinchosha is a publisher founded in 1896 in Japan and headquartered in Yaraichō, Shinjuku, Tokyo. Shinchosha is one of the sponsors of the Japan Fantasy Novel Award. Books * Haruki Murakami: ''Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World'' (1985), ...

, 2018,

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ishii, Yuka 1963 births Living people 21st-century Japanese novelists 21st-century Japanese women writers Japanese women novelists Akutagawa Prize winners