THE ASAHI SHIMBUN
May 27, 2022 at 15:19 JST
The logo of the 2022 International Booker Prize (Kan Kashiwazaki)
Mieko Kawakami failed to collect this year’s International Booker Prize hosted in Britain after becoming the first Japanese author to be shortlisted for the prestigious award in two years.
The award for the translation category of the Booker Prize went to “Tomb of Sand,” written by Geetanjali Shree and translated by Daisy Rockwell, it was announced on May 26. Shree became the first Indian author to claim the international prize.
The English version of Kawakami’s novel “Heaven,” translated by Sam Bett and David Boyd, was among the six works shortlisted for the 2022 International Booker Prize.
"Heaven" is told through the accounts of a second-year junior high school student, who is routinely bullied by classmates because of his lazy eye.
The novel poses questions about the values of good and evil.
The last time a Japanese author was shortlisted for the international prize was 2020, when Yoko Ogawa was nominated for “The Memory Police.”
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