This is the final week of our tribute to the Women's World Cup by featuring authors from the winner's countries. The 2011 winner was Japan. The Japanese Women's National Soccer Team has appeared in a total of six world cups but never placed better than the quarterfinals. Earlier this year they stunned the U. S. and the world and became the first Asian team to win the coveted championship.
Help celebrate their victory by reading one of the following talented authors of Japanese ancestry.
Kazuo Ishiguro--this Japanese-English author is best known for his 1989 Man Booker Prize winning novel The Remains of the Day but three of his other novels have been nominated as well.
Haruki Murakami--this Kyoto-born writer is an important writer of postmodern literature and has won numerous awards for both his fiction and nonfiction. He's also the author of one of this fall's most talked-about books, 1Q84.
Kenzaburo Oe--born in 1935 in the village of Ose, he is a major figure in contemporary Japanese literature and he won the Nobel Prize in 1994.
Hiromi Kawakami--born in Tokyo, she is known for her offbeat fiction but is also a literary critic and provocative essayist.
Yukio Mishima--this author, poet, playwright, director, and actor was nominated for the Nobel Prize three times. He committed ritual suicide in 1970 at the age of 45.
Julie Otsuka--this Yale graduate has written two novels based on the experience of her family members in Japanese-American internment camps during WWII.
Ruth Ozeki--this Connecticut born novelist, filmmaker, and Zen Buddhist priest has won the Kiriyama Prize and the American Book Award for her works.
Nina Revoyr--this Japanese-American novelist and multiple award winner has written four fascinating novels about small-town Wisconsin, the silent film era, girl's basketball, and Los Angeles.
