Young writers honored in Japan
Japan’s most prestigious literary award for up-and-coming authors went to a 19-year-old and a 20-year-old Thursday, the youngest-ever recipients of a prize that helped launch the careers of writers such as Kenzaburo Oe.
Risa Wataya, 19, a student at Tokyo’s Waseda University, won the Akutagawa Prize for her novel “The Back One Wants to Kick,” about a high school girl and boy who feel they are outcasts.
Hitomi Kanehara, 20, won for “Snakes and Piercings,” a story about a young woman who comes to know herself while piercing her tongue and getting tattoos.
The monthly Japanese literary magazine Bungei Shunju established the prize in 1935 to reward promising new writers.
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