Akiko Akazome (赤染 晶子, Akazome Akiko), born Akiko Seino (瀬野 晶子, Seino Akiko), was a Japanese writer. Akazome won the 143rd Akutagawa Prize and the 99th Bungakukai Prize before her death in 2017.
In 2004 Akazome won the 99th Bungakukai Prize for her story "Hatsuko-san," which was later published in book form as Utsutsu utsura (うつつ・うつら).[4] Her 2010 book Otome no mikkoku (乙女の密告, The Maiden's Betrayal), about a group of women in a German class reading Anne Frank's The Diary of a Young Girl, generated controversy for using a casual writing style to discuss serious subject matter.[5]Otome no mikkoku won the 143rd Akutagawa Prize, with the selection committee praising the use of humor to discuss social problems.[6][7] The next year her book Uonteddo kaijin nijūichimensō (WANTED!!かい人21面相) was published by Bungeishunjū. It was nominated for the Oda Sakunosuke Prize.[8]
Akazome died of acute pneumonia in 2017 at the age of 42.[9]
^ ab"第99回文學界新人賞発表". Bungakukai (in Japanese). Bunshun. December 1, 2004. Retrieved July 6, 2018.
^Coutts, Angela. "Remembering Anne Frank in Japan: Akazome Akiko's Otome no Mikkoku / The Maiden's Betrayal". Contemporary Women's Writing. 8 (1): 71–88. doi:10.1093/cww/vpt002.
