The winners of Japan's prestigious Akutagawa and Naoki literary prizes were revealed Wednesday, with female writers scooping up the honors for works that explored themes of food and working relationships, and expectations for new encounters after emotional trauma, respectively.
Junko Takase’s short novel, “Oishii Gohan ga Taberaremasuyoni” (May You Eat Delicious Meals), won the Akutagawa Prize for up-and-coming authors, which this year had a shortlist of five female writers for the first time in its history, dating back to 1935.
Misumi Kubo’s collection of short stories, “Yoru ni Hoshi wo Hanatsu” (Shooting Stars at Night), won the Naoki Prize for popular fiction, for which four women and one man were nominated.