Natsuko Kuroda

Kuroda was born in 1937 in Tokyo and attended Waseda University.[1] While at Waseda University she started the journal Sajo (Sandcastles), where she published her fiction.[2] She graduated from Waseda University with a degree in Japanese, then worked various jobs as a teacher, administrator, and copy editor while continuing to write fiction.[3] In 1963 her story "Mari" ("Ball") won the 63rd Yomiuri Shimbun Short Story Newcomer Prize.[4]

For decades Kuroda wrote stories that were published but did not win recognition in the form of literary awards.[1][5] In 2012, nearly fifty years after her previous literary award, Kuroda won the Waseda Bungaku new writer competition for her experimental story a b sango, which was written mostly in hiragana rather than kanji, composed horizontally rather than vertically, and used no names or pronouns.[6] The next year a b sango won the 148th Akutagawa Prize, making Kuroda, at age 75, the oldest winner in the prize's history.[7] The Akutagawa Prize committee was not unanimous in its decision, but committee members commended Kuroda's experimental style.[8] In 2013 her story Kanjutai no odori, which she had written many years before a b sango, was published in book form.[5]

• 1963 Yomiuri Shimbun Short Story Newcomer Prize[4]
• 2012 Waseda Bungaku New Writer Prize[9]
• 2013 148th Akutagawa Prize (2012下)[10]