KONO TAEKO

(1926–)

Kono Taeko is a novelist and literary critic from Osaka. During World War II, she attended Osaka University and, after graduating and upon reading Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights, decided to become a professional author. She worked with Niwa Fumio on his literary journal and won the Akutagawa Ryunosuke Prize for her novel Kani (1963; tr. Crabs, 1982). She wrote Fui no koe (A Sudden Voice, 1968) and won the Yomiuri Prize. Kono champions the style of Tanizaki Jun’ichiro and has served on the selection committee of the prize named in his honor.