Chisako Wakatake

is a Japanese writer. Her 2017 book Ora ora de hitori igu mo won the Akutagawa Prize and the Bungei Prize.

Biography

Wakatake was born in 1954 in Tōno, Iwate, Japan. She started writing while in school, but after graduating from Iwate University she worked briefly as a teacher, then married and became a housewife. At the age of 55, after the death of her husband, she started writing full-time, drawing on her own experiences of age and loneliness.

Wakatake's first book, Ora ora de hitori igu mo (I'll Live By Myself), about a Tōhoku dialect-speaking widow coping with life alone after the death of her husband, was published in 2017. Shortly thereafter it also won the 158th Akutagawa Prize, making Wakatake the second oldest recipient of the award. After winning the Akutagawa Prize, Wakatake visited her hometown of Tōno, Iwate, where she received a local citizens' honor recognizing her for raising awareness of the town throughout Japan.

Critic Roland Kelts, writing for The Times Literary Supplement, has described the themes of Wakatake's work as "loneliness and repressed turmoil."

Personal life Wakatake lives in Kisarazu, Chiba Prefecture. 2018 158th Akutagawa Prize (2017下)