Eiko Kadono (角野 栄子, Kadono Eiko), real name Eiko Watanabe (渡辺英子, Watanabe Eiko), born January 1, 1935, is a Japanese author of children's literature, picture books, non-fiction, and essays in Shōwa and Heisei period in Japan. Her most famous work Kiki's Delivery Service, released in 1985, was made into an anime film by Hayao Miyazaki, and spawned a series of sequel novels. In 2018, she won the Hans Christian Andersen Award. Currently, she serves as a guest professor at the Nihon Fukushi UniversityinAichi Prefecture.
Kadono was born in Tokyo, Japan. As a child during the World War II, she was evacuated to North Japan.[1] She attended and graduated with a degree in English literature from Waseda University. After graduation in 1960 at the age of 25, she emigrated to Brazil where she spent two years. She wrote a non-fiction story called Brazil and My Friend Luizinho (Ruijinnyo shōnen, Burajiru o tazunete), based on her experience at that time, about a Brazilian boy who loves dancing samba. Brazil was released in 1970.[2] Kadono stated that living through World War II sparked her rebellious nature and had a profound impact on the way she viewed the world.[3]
She has published almost two hundred works, mainly books for children, including picture books and prose works for older children, as well as essay collections.[1] Her first successful children's book, published Ôdorabô Bula Bula shi (The Robber Bla-Bla), was published in 1981.[4] In 1985, she published the children's novel Majo no Takkyūbin (魔女の宅急便, Kiki's Delivery Service), about a young witch-in-training who starts a delivery service in a seaside town of Koriko. The book received several awards, including the Noma Prize for Children's Literature, the Shogakukan Children's Publication Culture Award, and the IBBY Honor List.[2] It was adapted into a film by Hayao Miyazaki in 1989 and became one of his most popular films.[1][5] The book was also adapted into a live-action film in 2014, directed by Takashi Shimizu.[6] She has written eight sequels to Kiki's.[7][8]
Majo no Takkyūbin 2: Kiki to Atarashii Mahō (魔女の宅急便その2キキと新しい魔法, Witch's Express Home Delivery 2: Kiki and Her New Magic) (1993)
Majo no Takkyūbin 3: Kiki to mō Hitori no Majo (魔女の宅急便その3キキともうひとりの魔女, Witch's Express Home Delivery 3: Kiki and the Other Witch) (2000)
Majo no Takkyūbin 4: Kiki no Koi (魔女の宅急便その4キキの恋, Witch's Express Home Delivery 4: Kiki's Love) (2004)
Majo no Takkyūbin 5: Mahō no Tomarigi (魔女の宅急便その5魔法の止まり木, Witch's Express Home Delivery 5: Perch of Magic) (2007)
Majo no Takkyūbin 6: Sorezore no Tabidachi (魔女の宅急便その6それぞれの旅立ち, Witch's Express Home Delivery 6: Each and Every Departure) (2009)
Majo no Takkyūbin Tokubetsu-hen: Kiki ni Deatta Hitobito (魔女の宅急便 特別編 キキに出会った人びと, Witch's Express Home Delivery Special Edition: People who met Kiki) (2016)
Majo no Takkyūbin Tokubetsu-hen 2: Kiki to Jiji (魔女の宅急便 特別編その2キキとジジ, Witch's Express Home Delivery Special Edition 2: Kiki and Jiji) (2017)
Majo no Takkyūbin Tokubetsu-hen 3: Keke to Hanbun Majo (魔女の宅急便 特別編その3ケケと半分魔女, Witch's Express Home Delivery Special Edition 3: Keke and the Half Witch) (2022)
Kadono won the 2018 Hans Christian Andersen Award for Writing.[10][1] The judges described her work as having『an ineffable charm, compassion, and élan』and praised her inspirational female characters as "singularly self-determining and enterprising."[10][11]
^Hunt, Peter; Ray, Sheila G. Bannister (1996). "Japan". International Companion Encyclopedia of Children's Literature. Vol. 1 (1 ed.). Taylor & Francis. pp. 841. ISBN0-415-08856-9.
