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{{Short description|Japanese writer}}
{{distinguish|Maiko Kawakami}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=February 2020}}
{{Infobox writer
| image = Mieko Kawakami.jpg
| image_size =
| alt = Author Mieko Kawakami seated
| caption = Mieko Kawakami in 2026, speaking at the Edinburgh International Book Festival
| name = Mieko Kawakami
| native_name = 川上未映子
| native_name_lang = ja
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1976|08|29}}
| birth_place = [[Osaka, Japan]]
| occupation = Writer, poet
| language = Japanese
| genre = Fiction, poetry, short stories
| notable_works = {{plainlist|
* ''[[Heaven (Kawakami novel)|Heaven]]''
* ''[[Breasts and Eggs]]''}}
| awards = {{plainlist|
* [[Akutagawa Prize]]
* [[Tanizaki Prize]]
* [[Murasaki Shikibu Prize]]
* }}
| spouse = [[Kazushige Abe]]
| children = 1
| website = [https://www.mieko.jp/mieko-kawakami Official website]
}}

{{nihongo|'''Mieko Kawakami'''|川上未映子|Kawakami Mieko|born August 29, 1976}} is a Japanese writer and poet. She is best known for her 2019 novel ''[[Breasts and Eggs]]'',{{Efn|The novel's original title in Japanese is {{nihongo|''Natsu Monogatari''|夏物語}} translating literally to ''Summer Stories''.}} an expanded and reworked version of her 2008 novella {{nihongo|''[[Chichi to Ran]]''|乳と卵||{{literally|''Breasts and Eggs''}}}}. Following the international success of ''Breasts and Eggs'' multiple of her earlier novels and most of her works since have been translated into English, among many other languages, and distributed internationally. Among them are ''[[Heaven (Kawakami novel)|Heaven]]'' (2009) and ''[[All the Lovers in the Night]]'' (2011), as well as ''[[Sisters in Yellow]]'' (2023), her first novel released since ''Breasts and Eggs''. Her work is known for her "philosophical explorations of gender, class and ethics in modern society" and [[slice of life]] style.<ref name=LHInt/> Kawakami's books often revolve around women and children.<ref name=2020Guar/>

Kawakami's work has won several literary awards, including the 2007 [[Akutagawa Prize]] for ''Chichi to Ran'', the 2009 [[Murasaki Shikibu Prize]] for ''[[Heaven (Kawakami novel)|Heaven]]'' and the 2013 [[Tanizaki Prize]] for her short story collection ''Ai no yume to ka'' (愛の夢とか), among many more.

==Early life and music career==
Kawakami was born in [[Osaka]] on August 29, 1976, to a working-class family.<ref>{{Cite web |last=未映子 |first=川上 |date=2019-08-09 |title=脅迫に屈しないとはどういうことか。作家・川上未映子さんが体験して考えた｢わたしの戦い方｣ |url=https://www.businessinsider.jp/post-196263 |access-date=2023-12-28 |website=BUSINESS INSIDER JAPAN |language=ja}}</ref><ref name=NY2021>{{Cite magazine |last=Emre |first=Merve |date=31 May 2021 |title=A Japanese Novelist's Tale of Bullying and Nietzsche |language=en-US |magazine=[[The New Yorker]] |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/06/07/a-japanese-novelists-tale-of-bullying-and-nietzsche |access-date=30 December 2023 |issn=0028-792X}}</ref> She was raised by her single mother with the family struggling with poverty.<ref name=LHInt/> At 14 years old she started work in a factory.<ref name=2020Guar/>

In her early twenties Kawakami worked as a hostess and bookstore clerk while pursuing a singing career and taking [[correspondence course]]s in philosophy at [[Nihon University]].<ref name=NY2021/><ref name=":0">{{cite news|url=https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2008/03/25/national/writer-blogs-her-way-to-top-literary-prize/|title=Writer blogs her way to top literary prize|work=Japan Times|last=Kageyama|first=Yuri|date=March 25, 2008|access-date=June 17, 2018}}</ref> She released three [[J-pop]] albums but quit her musical career in 2006 to focus on writing.<ref name=":4">{{cite news|url=https://www.straitstimes.com/lifestyle/arts/j-pop-singer-turned-writer|title=J-pop singer turned writer|work=The Straits Times|last=Lee|first=Jian Xuan|date=22 November 2015|access-date=|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180618002845/https://www.straitstimes.com/lifestyle/arts/j-pop-singer-turned-writer|archive-date=18 June 2018}}</ref> Kawakami reportedly quit her music career after finding out how little artistic control she would have about her work.<ref name=2020Guar/>

== Writing career ==
Kawakami made her literary debut in 2006.<ref name=WasafiriInt>{{cite journal|author=Hitomi Yoshio |journal=[[Wasafiri]] |issue=2 |volume=35 |date=April 2020 |title=An Interview with Mieko Kawakami |doi=10.1080/02690055.2020.1721115 |publisher=[[Routledge]] |pages=39–44 |issn=0269-0055}}</ref>{{rp|39}} She published her first novella, ''My Ego Ratio, My Teeth, And The World'', in 2007, earning her a Tsubouchi Shoyo Prize for Young Emerging Writers.<ref name=LARB2020>{{Cite web |date=2020-07-28 |title='Breasts and Eggs' by Mieko Kawakami |url=https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/breasts-and-eggs-by-mieko-kawakami |access-date=2026-03-15 |website=Los Angeles Review of Books}}</ref> Before winning the [[Akutagawa Prize]] in 2008 for her second novella, ''[[Chichi to Ran]]'', Kawakami was known in Japan primarily as the [[blog]]ger behind "Critique of Pure Sadness" which she started to promote her singing career.<ref name=":0" /> The blog covered a broad range of topics including [[feminism]], [[Kant]] and daily observations by the author.<ref name=NY2021/><ref name=":4"/> At its peak, her blog received over 200,000 hits per day. ''Chichi to Ran'' was originally published on that blog. The novella, revolving around a mother and daughter with communication issues and featuring frank discussions of sex and personal relationships, has been called "unpleasant and intolerable" by then-governor of Tokyo [[Shintaro Ishihara]].<ref name=In2008>{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/young-commuter-bloggers-snatch-japans-literary-laurels-799655.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220514/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/young-commuter-bloggers-snatch-japans-literary-laurels-799655.html |archive-date=May 14, 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|title=Young commuter bloggers snatch Japan's literary laurels|work=The Independent|last=McNeill|first=David|access-date=June 17, 2018|date=23 March 2008}}</ref> The book was officially published in 2008 and went on to sell more than 250.000 copies.<ref name=2020Guar/>

Kawakami's fourth novel, ''[[Heaven (Kawakami novel)|Heaven]]'', was published by Kodansha in 2009 and won the [[Murasaki Shikibu Prize]] the following year. The book follows the story of an unnamed [[middle school]]er who is brutally bullied by his classmates. According to the author ''Heaven'' draws inspiration from [[Nietzsche]]'s ''[[Thus Spoke Zarathustra]]'' and tries to address the "ultimate question of good and evil".<ref name=NY2021/>

From 2015 to 2017, Kawakami conducted a series of interviews with [[Haruki Murakami]], in which she notably asked him about women and [[sexualization]] in his novels.<ref>{{cite news|last=Kashiwazaki|first=Kan|date=16 June 2017|title=Haruki Murakami talks of how he goes with the flow|work=[[Asahi Shimbun]]|url=http://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/AJ201706160005.html|url-status=dead|access-date=June 17, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170616050430/http://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/AJ201706160005.html|archive-date=16 June 2017}}</ref> The edited volume of these interviews, titled {{nihongo||みみずくは黄昏に飛びたつ|Mimizuku wa Tasogare ni Tobitatsu|''Haruki Murakami: A Long, Long Interview''}} was published in 2017. In 2019 the two authors hosted a joint reading. Kawakami has described Murakami's place in [[Japanese literature]] as special, saying he is the only Japanese author that isn't read from an [[orientalism|orientalist]] perspective by Western audiences.{{r|WasafiriInt|p=42}} In 2016 Kawakami was featured in ''[[Granta]] Japan'' and ''Waseda Bungaku'''s collaborative "Best of Young Japanese Novelists" volume.<ref name=WasafiriInt/>

In 2019, Kawakami published ''[[Breasts and Eggs|Natsu Monogatari]]'' (''Summer Stories''), a considerably expanded and completely rewritten version of her novella ''Chichi to Ran.'' It received the 73rd [[Mainichi Publishing Culture Award|Mainichi Publication Culture Award]].<ref name=Mainishi>{{Cite web |date=2019-11-02 |title=毎日出版文化賞に川上未映子さんら |url=https://www.sankei.com/article/20191103-KVT4ORT4DVLRLJYXU7OM7O7YFU/ |access-date=2026-03-15 |website=産経新聞：産経ニュース |language=ja}}</ref>

=== 2020–present: International breakthrough ===
In 2020, the English translation of ''Natsu Monogatari'' was published under the title ''[[Breasts and Eggs]]'' by [[Europa Editions]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Breasts and Eggs - Mieko Kawakami |url=http://www.europaeditions.com.cricchetto.frequenze.it/book/9781609455873/breasts-and-eggs |access-date=2024-07-19 |website=Europa Editions |language=en}}</ref> [[Katie Kitamura]] reviewed it favorably for ''[[The New York Times]]'', observing, "Mieko Kawakami writes with a bracing lack of sentimentality, particularly when describing the lives of women."<ref>{{Cite news |last=Kitamura |first=Katie |date=2020-04-07 |title=A Japanese Literary Star Joins Her Peers on Western Bookshelves |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/07/books/review/breasts-and-eggs-mieko-kawakami.html |access-date=2023-12-28 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> The novel would go on to achieve both critical and commercial success internationally.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/oct/05/breasts-and-eggs-by-mieko-kawakami-review-strange-and-ruthlessly-honest |date=5 October 2020 |access-date=23 July 2026 |author=Williams, Holly |website=[[The Guardian]] |title=Breasts and Eggs by Mieko Kawakami review – strange and ruthlessly honest}}</ref> ''Heaven'' was translated into English and published by [[Europa Editions]] in 2021.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Heaven - Mieko Kawakami |url=http://www.europaeditions.com.cricchetto.frequenze.it/book/9781609456306/heaven |access-date=2024-07-19 |website=Europa Editions |language=en}}</ref> It was shortlisted for the 2022 [[International Booker Prize]].<ref name=bookerHeaven>{{Cite web |title=Heaven |url=https://thebookerprizes.com/the-booker-library/books/heaven |access-date=2024-07-19 |website=The Booker Prizes |language=en}}</ref> That year the English translation of ''[[All the Lovers in the Night]]'', translated by Sam Bett and David Boyd, was published by Europa Editions and got to be a finalist for the 2023 [[National Book Critics Circle Award]] in Fiction.<ref name=BC2022>{{Cite web |last=Labrise |first=Megan |date=January 31, 2023 |title=National Book Critics Circle Announces Finalists for Publishing Year 2022 |url=https://www.bookcritics.org/2023/01/31/national-book-critics-circle-announces-finalists-for-publishing-year-2022/ |access-date=2023-02-03 |website=National Book Critics Circle |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=All the Lovers in the Night - Mieko Kawakami |url=http://www.europaeditions.com.cricchetto.frequenze.it/book/9781609456993/all-the-lovers-in-the-night |access-date=2024-07-21 |website=Europa Editions |language=en}}</ref>

Kawakami's eighth novel, ''[[Sisters in Yellow]]'' was originally serialized in the [[Yomiuri Shinbun]], a Japanese newspaper,<ref name=LHInt/> and published as a book by [[Chuokoron-Shinsha]] in 2023. The format invited Kawakami to improvise and write the chapters with little planning. The only thing she set beforehand were the thirteen titles of the book's chapters.<ref name=Tokion/> An English translation by David Boyd was announced for a spring 2025 release by [[Picador (imprint)|Picador]].<ref name=TBS2025>{{Cite web |title=Picador swoops for novel and short story collection from Kawakami |url=https://www.thebookseller.com/rights/picador-swoops-for-novel-and-short-story-collection-from-kawakami |access-date=4 June 2025 |date=2 May 2023 |author=Fraser, Katie |website=The Bookseller |language=En}}</ref> The book was eventually published by [[Knopf]] in a translation by Hitomi Yoshio and Laurel Taylor in early 2026.<ref name=LHInt>{{cite web|url=https://lithub.com/mieko-kawakami-on-sisterhood-survival-and-finding-hope-in-the-darkness/ |title=Mieko Kawakami on Sisterhood, Survival, and Finding Hope in the Darkness |author=Ogasawara, Leanne |date=23 March 2026 |access-date=4 August 2026 |website=[[Literary Hub]]}}</ref>

=== Adaptations ===
;;Film
While, after its initial success, ''Chichi to Ran'' was said to be adapted for the screen,<ref name=In2008/> no such production ever materialized. The first film adaptation of Kawakami's work would be the 2023 drama ''Ice Cream Fever'' directed by {{ill|Tetsuya Chihara|ja|千原徹也}} based on the 2013 novella ''[[Ms Ice Sandwich]]'', the first half of the untranslated ''Akogare''.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://fareastfilms.com/fef-news/trailer-ice-cream-fever/ |title=Trailer: 'Ice Cream Fever' |date=13 July 2023 |access-date=6 July 2026 |author=Mills, Phil |website=Far East Films}}</ref> Chihara's background is in graphic design and he designed multiple book covers for Kawakami in the past. In adapting the seven-page short story into a feature film the two of them worked together, leading to Kawakami being credited as a co-writer on the movie. ''Ice Cream Fever'' was preceded by a spin-off short film centered on one of the main movie's characters called ''I SCREAM FEVER''.<ref>{{cite interview|url=https://www.filmedinether.com/features/interview-tetsuya-chihara-on-the-stylish-ice-cream-fever/ |title=Interview: Tetsuya Chihara on the stylish ‘Ice Cream Fever’ |date=17 July 2024 |interviewer=Ng, Natalie |access-date=30 August 2026 |website=FilmedInEther.com |subject=Chihara, Tetsuya}}</ref> This was followed by an adaptation of ''All the Lovers in the Night'' by {{ill|Yukiko Sode|ja|岨手由貴子}} starring [[Yukino Kishii]] and [[Tadanobu Asano]] in 2026. The film was screened at the [[2026 Cannes Film Festival]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/2026/all-the-lovers-in-the-night-as-seen-by-yukiko-sode/ |title=All the Lovers in the Night, as seen by Yukiko Sode |date=17 May 2026 |access-date=6 July 2026 |website=[[Cannes Film Festival]] |author=Sabrier, Manon}}</ref>

;;Theater
In December 2025, actor Izumi Aoyagi debuted ''Wisteria and the Three Women'' at Lumine 0 in [[Shinjuku]]. The [[one-woman show]] is based on the short story of the same name. The production marks the fourth collaboration of Kawakami with Takahiro Fujita's [[theater company]] Mum&Gypsy.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.japantimes.co.jp/culture/2026/02/14/stage/mieko-kawakami-wisteria-theater-play/ |title=‘Wisteria’: Mieko Kawakami’s story of female longing adapted for stage |author=Ting, Grace En-Yi |date=14 February 2026 |access-date=30 August 2026 |website=[[The Japan Times]]}}</ref>

== Writing style and themes ==
Kawakami's prose fiction can be categorized as [[literary realism]], while her poetic work has veered into [[surrealism]] and incorporated [[fantasy]] elements.{{r|WasafiriInt|p=42}} In a 2019 interview Kawakami compared prose fiction with poetry and in the light of the [[2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami|2011 triple disaster]] highlighted short poems' ability to be memorized in their entirety for "people [who] lost everything".{{r|WasafiriInt|p=40}} She credits [[Ichiyo Higuchi]] as having made the biggest impact on her work, nothing her as "one of the first women to become a professional writer in Japan". In 2022 she said that Higuchi's ''[[Takekurabe]]'' changed her life.<ref>{{cite interview|url=https://thebookerprizes.com/the-booker-library/features/discover-the-shortlist-mieko-kawakami-i-grew-up-in-a-house-with-no |title=Discover the shortlist: Mieko Kawakami, ‘I grew up in a house with no books’ |date=25 May 2022 |access-date=30 August 2026 |website=TheBookerPrizes.com |subject=Kawakami, Mieko}}</ref>

=== Feminism ===
Kawakami is an outspoken feminist, seeing it as "a way of life" rather than an ideology, informing both her writing and her interpersonal relationships.{{r|WasafiriInt|p=42}} On the other hand books like ''[[Sisters in Yellow]]'' also serve to criticize the short-comings of [[Fourth-wave feminism|contemporary feminist movements]].<ref name=LHInt/>

=== Osaka dialect ===
Born and raised in [[Osaka]], the local dialect features heavily in Kawakami's work. For example, all dialogue in ''Breasts and Eggs'' is in [[Osaka dialect]] while the rest of the text is written in [[Standard Japanese]].{{r|WasafiriInt|p=43}}

==Personal life==
Kawakami lives in [[Tokyo, Japan]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Hunt |first=Joshua |date=7 February 2023 |title='Breasts and Eggs' Made Her a Feminist Icon. She Has Other Ambitions. |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/07/magazine/mieko-kawakami.html |access-date=29 December 2023 |issn=0362-4331 |quote="The comfortable life she has ended up with — married to another successful novelist, with whom she shares a 10-year-old son and a modest home in Tokyo — doesn’t always fit as well as the designer dresses that disguise her working-class roots."}}</ref> She is married to the author [[Kazushige Abe]], with whom she has a son.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Cook |first=Grace |date=2022-04-22 |title=Rooms of their own |work=Financial Times |url=https://www.ft.com/content/74c530ac-304f-4905-a457-d0bb5837007f |access-date=2023-12-29}}</ref>

== Bibliography ==

=== Novels ===
{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="width: 100%;"
|+ Novels by Mieko Kawakami
|-
! scope="col" | Title
! scope="col" | Year
! scope="col" | Original [[ISBN]]
! scope="col" | Original publisher
! scope="col" | Notes
!scope="col" | {{abbr|Ref(s).|Reference(s)}}
|- style="text-align: center;"
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | {{nihongo|''Watakushiritsu In Hā Matawa Sekai''|わたくし率イン歯ー、または世界||{{literally|''My Ego Ratio in My Teeth, and the World''}}}}
| 2007
| {{isbnt|9784062142137}}
| [[Kodansha]]
|
| <ref name=LARB2020/>
|- style="text-align: center;"
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | {{nihongo|''[[Chichi to Ran]]''|乳と卵||{{literally|''Of Breasts and Eggs''}}}}
| 2008
| {{isbnt|9784163270104}}
| [[Bungeishunjū]]
| Originally published in the December 2007 issue of ''[[Bungakukai]]''. An excerpt translated by Louise Heal Kawai was published by ''[[Words Without Borders]]'' in 2012.<ref>{{cite web |last=Kawakami |first=Mieko |date=August 1, 2012 |title=From ''Breasts and Eggs'' |url=https://www.wordswithoutborders.org/article/from-breasts-and-eggs |access-date=June 17, 2018 |work=Words Without Borders |translator-last=Heal Kawai |translator-first=Louise}}</ref>
|<ref>{{Cite web |title=『乳と卵』川上未映子 |url=https://books.bunshun.jp/ud/book/num/9784163270104 |access-date=21 April 2026 |website=books.bunshun.jp |language=ja}}</ref>
|- style="text-align: center;"
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | {{nihongo|''[[Heaven (Kawakami novel)|Heaven]]''|ヘヴン|''Hevn''}}
| 2009
| {{isbnt|9784062157728}}
| Kodansha
| Published in English by [[Europa Editions]] in 2021 ({{isbn|9781609456214}}), translated by Sam Bett and David Boyd.
|
|- style="text-align: center;"
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | {{nihongo|''[[All the Lovers in the Night]]''|すべて真夜中の恋人たち|''Subete mayonaka no koibito tachi''}}
| 2011
| {{isbnt|9784062779401}}
| Kodansha
| Published in English by Europa Editions in 2022 ({{isbn|9781609456993}}), translated by Sam Bett and David Boyd.
|
|- style="text-align: center;"
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | {{nihongo|''Akogare''|あこがれ||{{literally|''Yearning''}}}}
| 2015
| {{isbnt|9784103256243}}
| [[Shinchosha]]
| The first part of two, "[[Ms Ice Sandwich]]", was translated into English by Louise Heal Kawai and published by [[Pushkin Press]] in 2018 ({{isbn|9781782273301}}).
|
|- style="text-align: center;"
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | {{nihongo|''[[Breasts and Eggs]]''|夏物語||''Natsu Monogatari'', {{literally|''Summer Stories''}}}}
| 2019
| {{isbnt|9784163910543}}
| Bungeishunju
| Published in English by Europa Editions in 2020 ({{isbn|9781609455873}}), translated by Sam Bett and David Boyd.
|
|- style="text-align: center;"
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | {{nihongo|''[[Sisters in Yellow]]''|黄色い家|''Kiiroi Ie''}}
| 2023
| {{isbnt|9784120056284}}
| [[Chuokoron-Shinsha]]
| Before publication it was serialized in [[The Yomiuri Shimbun]]. Published in English by [[Knopf]] in 2026 ({{isbn|9781035024131}}), translated by Laurel Taylor and Hitomi Yoshio.<ref name=LHInt/>
| <ref name=Tokion/>
|}

=== Short story collections ===
{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="width: 100%;"
|+ Short story collections by Mieko Kawakami
|-
! scope="col" | Title
! scope="col" | Year
! scope="col" | Original [[ISBN]]
! scope="col" | Original publisher
! scope="col" | Stories
! scope="col" | Notes
!scope="col" | {{abbr|Ref(s).|Reference(s)}}
|- style="text-align: center;"
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | {{nihongo|''Sentan de, sasuwa sasareruwa soraeewa''|先端で、さすわさされるわそらええわ||{{literally|''On the tip, poking and being poked, that feels good''}}}}
| 2008
| {{isbnt|9784791763894}}
| [[Seikyūsha]]
|
| Poetry collection
| <ref>{{cite web|url=https://journal.meti.go.jp/hotperson/38584/ |title=国内外での評価、命の誕生と別れ… 川上未映子さんが向き合う「人生の季節」 |date=28 April 2025 |access-date=16 August 2026 |website=METI Journal |language=Japanese}}</ref>
|- style="text-align: center;"
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | {{nihongo|''Mizugame''|水瓶||{{literally|''Water Vessel''}}}}
| 2012
|
|
|
| Poetry collection
|
|- style="text-align: center;"
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | {{nihongo|''Ai no yume to ka''|愛の夢とか||{{literally|''Dreams of Love, etc.''}}}}
| 2013
| {{isbnt|9784062177993}}
| Kodansha
|
| The rights for the English translation have been acquired by Picador in 2023, set to be published in 2026.<ref name=TBS2025/>
|
|- style="text-align: center;"
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | {{nihongo|''Ashes of Spring''|春のこわいもの|''Haru no kowai mono''}}
| 2022
| {{isbnt|9784103256267}}
| Shinchosha
|
| Published in English as an [[audio book]] by [[Audible (service)|Audible]] in 2025, translated by Hitomi Yoshio.
"No Flowers" published in English on ''[[Literary Hub]]'' in 2025, translated by David Boyd.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://lithub.com/no-flowers/ |title="No Flowers" |author=Kawakami, Mieko |website=[[Literary Hub]] |date=2025 |access-date=21 April 2026 |translator=Boyd, David}}</ref>
|
|}

=== Selected short works in English ===
*"March Yarn" (short story), trans. Michael Emmerich, ''March was Made of Yarn: Reflections on the Japanese Earthquake, Tsunami, and Nuclear Meltdown'', 2012.<ref>{{cite book|title=March was Made of Yarn: Reflections on the Japanese Earthquake, Tsunami, and Nuclear Meltdown|editor1-last=Luke|editor1-first=Elmer|editor2-last=Karashima|editor2-first=David James|publisher=Vintage Books|date=2012|chapter=March Yarn|last=Kawakami|first=Mieko|translator-last=Emmerich|translator-first=Michael|pages=55–70|isbn=9780307948861}}</ref>
*"About Her and the Memories That Belong to Her" (short story), trans. Hitomi Yoshio, ''[[Granta]] 132'', 2015.<ref>{{cite web |last=Kawakami |first=Mieko |date=July 1, 2015 |title=About Her and the Memories That Belong to Her |url=https://granta.com/memories-belong/ |access-date=June 17, 2018 |work=Granta |translator-last=Yoshio |translator-first=Hitomi}}</ref>
*"Where Have All the Sundays Gone?" (short story), trans. Hitomi Yoshio, ''[[Words Without Borders]]'' (''On Memory: New Japanese Writing''), 2015.<ref>{{cite web |last=Kawakami |first=Mieko |date=March 1, 2015 |title=Where Have All the Sundays Gone? |url=https://www.wordswithoutborders.org/article/where-have-all-the-sundays-gone |access-date=June 17, 2018 |work=Words Without Borders |translator-last=Yoshio |translator-first=Hitomi}}</ref>
*"The Flower Garden" (short story), trans. Hitomi Yoshio, ''Freeman's: The Future of New Writing'' ({{isbn|9781925603071}}), 2017.<ref>{{cite book |last=Kawakami |first=Mieko |title=Freeman's: The Future of New Writing |date=October 10, 2017 |publisher=Grove Press |editor-last=Freeman |editor-first=John |translator-last=Yoshio |translator-first=Hitomi |chapter=The Flower Garden}}</ref>
*"How Much Heart" (flash fiction), trans. David Boyd, ''Granta Online'', 2018.<ref>{{cite web |last=Kawakami |first=Mieko |date=August 15, 2018 |title=How Much Heart |url=https://granta.com/how-much-heart/ |access-date=July 25, 2022 |work=Granta |translator-last=Boyd |translator-first=David}}</ref>
*"The Flowers Look More Beautiful Now Than Ever" (essay), trans. Hitomi Yoshio, ''Granta Online'', 2020.<ref>{{cite web |last=Kawakami |first=Mieko |date=June 5, 2020 |title=The Flowers Look More Beautiful Now Than Ever |url=https://granta.com/the-flowers-look-more-beautiful-now-than-ever/ |access-date=July 25, 2022 |work=Granta |translator-last=Yoshio |translator-first=Hitomi}}</ref>
*"Shame" (short story), trans. Louise Heal Kawai and Hitomi Yoshio, ''Granta Online'', 2020.<ref>{{cite web |last=Kawakami |first=Mieko |date=November 9, 2020 |title=Shame |url=https://granta.com/shame-mieko-kawakami/ |access-date=July 25, 2022 |work=Granta |translator-last=Heal Kawai & Yoshio |translator-first=Louise & Hitomi}}</ref>
*"Wisteria" (short story), trans. Hitomi Yoshio, ''[[Astra Magazine]]: Ecstasy'', 2022.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://astra-mag.com/articles/wisteria |access-date=20 April 2026 |title=Wisteria |author=Mieko Kawakami |translator=Hitomi Yoshio |website=[[Astra Magazine]]}}</ref>
*"The Door Between Us" (flash fiction), trans. Sam Bett, ''[[The New Yorker]]'', 2024.<ref>{{cite web|author=Kawakami, Mieko |date=15 August 2024 |access-date=21 April 2026 |website=[[The New Yorker]] |translator=Sam Bett |url=https://www.newyorker.com/books/flash-fiction/the-door-between-us |title=The Door Between Us}}</ref>

Kawakami also wrote Japanese translations of [[Peter Rabbit]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://japannews.yomiuri.co.jp/culture/books-literature/20220430-24260/|title=More than just a cute bunny: Profundity of 'Peter Rabbit' stories rediscovered in new Japanese translation|newspaper=[[The Yomiuri Shimbun]]|date=30 April 2022|access-date=2 November 2025 |author=Takeda, Hiromasa}}</ref>

== Awards and recognition ==
{| class="wikitable"
|+
!Year
!Prize
!Work
!Notes
!scope="col" | {{abbr|Ref(s).|Reference(s)}}
|-
|[[2007 in literature|2007]]
|Tsubouchi Shoyo Prize for Young Emerging Writers
|''Watakushi ritsuin hā, mata wa sekai''
|{{won}}
|<ref name=tsubouchi>{{cite web|url=https://www.waseda.jp/culture/news/2007/09/25/188/|language=japanese|title=第一回早稲田大学坪内逍遙大賞選考委員会|publisher=[[Waseda University]]|date=September 25, 2007|access-date=June 21, 2018}}</ref>
|-
|[[2008 in literature|2008]]
|[[Akutagawa Prize]]
|''[[Chichi to Ran]]''
|{{won}}
|<ref name=:1>{{cite news|url=https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Asia-Pacific/2008/1215/p13s05-woap.html|title=Mieko Kawakami: From blogger to global novelist|work=[[The Christian Science Monitor]]|last=Newcomb|first=Amelia|date=December 15, 2008|access-date=June 17, 2018}}</ref>
|-
|[[2009 in literature|2009]]
|Chūya Nakahara Prize
|''Sentan de, sasuwa sasareruwa sora eewa''
|{{won}}
|<ref name=Tokion>{{cite web|url=https://tokion.jp/en/2023/07/21/tokinooto-vol22-mieko-kawakami/ |title=時音 Vol. 22: Author Mieko Kawakami Asks, “How Do You Want to Live?” in Sisters in Yellow |author=Hasada, Yoko |date=21 July 2023 |website=[[Tokion]] |access-date=30 August 2026}}</ref>
|-
|rowspan=2|[[2010 in literature|2010]]
|[[Murasaki Shikibu Prize]]
|rowspan=2|''[[Heaven (Kawakami novel)|Heaven]]''
|{{won}}
|<ref name=murasaki>{{cite web|url=https://library.city.uji.kyoto.jp/Bungakusho.html|language=japanese|title=紫式部文学賞 |work=宇治市図書館|access-date=June 21, 2018}}</ref>
|-
|Art Encouragement Prize for New Artists
|{{won}}
|<ref name=Tokion/>
|-
|rowspan=2|[[2013 in literature|2013]]
|[[Tanizaki Prize]]
|''Ai no Yume toka''
|{{won}}
|<ref name=:2>{{cite web|url=http://www.booksfromjapan.jp/awards/item/674-tanizaki-junichiro-prize|title=Tanizaki Jun'ichiro Prize|work=Books from Japan|access-date=June 17, 2018}}</ref>
|-
|[[Takami Jun Prize]]
|''Mizugame''
|{{won}}
|<ref name=Tokion/>
|-
|[[2016 in literature|2016]]
|Watanabe Junichiro Prize
|''Akogare''
|{{won}}
|<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nikkei.com/article/DGXLASDG31H7A_R30C16A3000000/|title=第１回渡辺淳一文学賞に川上未映子さん|language=japanese|work=[[The Nikkei]]|date=March 31, 2016|access-date=June 17, 2018}}</ref>
|-
|[[2018 in literature|2018]]
|[[Grand Prix of Literary Associations]]
|''[[Ms Ice Sandwich]]'' (2018 English translation)
|{{shortlisted}}
|<ref>{{Cite web |date=29 March 2019 |title=GPLA 2018 Finals: Maybe the Year of English |url=http://bamendaonline.net/gpla-2018-finals-maybe-the-year-of-english%EF%BB%BF/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190401130344/http://bamendaonline.net/gpla-2018-finals-maybe-the-year-of-english%EF%BB%BF/ |archive-date=1 April 2019 |access-date=6 July 2026 |website=Bamenda Online}}</ref>
|-
|[[2019 in literature|2019]]
|[[Mainichi Publishing Culture Award]]
|''[[Breasts and Eggs]]''
|{{won}}
|<ref name=Mainishi/>
|-
|[[2022 in literature|2022]]
|[[International Booker Prize]]
|''Heaven'' (2021 English translation)
|{{shortlisted}}
|<ref name=bookerHeaven/>
|-
|[[2023 in literature|2023]]
|[[National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction]]
|''[[All the Lovers in the Night]]'' (2022 English translation)
|{{CFinalist}}
|<ref name=BC2022/>
|-
|[[2024 in literature|2024]]
|[[Yomiuri Prize]]
|''[[Sisters in Yellow]]''
|{{Won}}
|<ref name=PenguinBio>{{cite web|url=https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/authors/2146279/mieko-kawakami/ |title=Mieko Kawakami |access-date=21 April 2026 |website=[[Penguin Random House]]}}</ref>
|}

Japanese author [[Haruki Murakami]] called her his favorite young novelist<ref>{{cite web|url=https://lithub.com/haruki-murakami-on-his-favorite-young-novelist-mieko-kawakami |title=Haruki Murakami on His Favorite Young Novelist: Mieko Kawakami |work=Literary Hub |author=Murakami, Haruki |date=4 October 2017 |access-date=17 June 2018 |translator=Gabriel, Philip}}</ref> and has described her writing as "ceaselessly growing and evolving".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://theculturetrip.com/asia/japan/articles/why-mieko-kawakami-is-the-one-japanese-writer-you-should-be-reading/|title=Why Mieko Kawakami is the One Japanese Writer You Should Be Reading|work=The Culture Trip|last=Janney|first=Matthew|date=January 5, 2018 |access-date=June 17, 2018}}</ref><ref name=2020Guar>{{Cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/aug/18/mieko-kawakami-interview-breasts-and-eggs-haruki-murakami |title= Mieko Kawakami: 'Women are no longer content to shut up' |website = [[The Guardian]] |date= 18 August 2020 |author=McNeill, David}}</ref>

== Notes ==
{{reflist|group=lower-alpha}}

== References ==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* [https://www.mieko.jp/mieko-kawakami Official website]

{{Akutagawa Prize winners}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kawakami, Mieko}}
[[Category:1976 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Japanese writers]]
[[Category:Japanese novelists]]
[[Category:Japanese women novelists]]
[[Category:21st-century Japanese novelists]]
[[Category:21st-century Japanese male novelists]]
[[Category:21st-century Japanese women poets]]
[[Category:Akutagawa Prize winners]]
[[Category:Writers from Osaka]]
[[Category:Singers from Osaka]]
[[Category:21st-century Japanese women singers]]

Mieko Kawakami - Revision history

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