1. Risa Wataya is a female Japanese novelist from Kyoto.
10 Facts About Risa Wataya
1. 2.
Risa Wataya's work has been translated into German, Italian, French, Thai, Korean, and English.
3.
Risa Wataya's mother was a university English teacher, and her father worked for a clothing company.
4.
In 2004, while a second-year student at Waseda, Risa Wataya received the Akutagawa Prize for her short novel Keritai senaka.
5.
Risa Wataya shared the prize with Hitomi Kanehara, another young, female author.
6.
At the age of 19, Risa Wataya became the youngest author and only the third student ever to win the Akutagawa Prize.
7.
Risa Wataya did not immediately write more novels after winning the Akutagawa Prize, but rather worked several jobs in Kyoto, including selling clothes in a department store and serving as a hotel waitress.
8.
Risa Wataya returned to writing with her 2007 book Yume wo ataeru, and in 2010 her novel Katte ni furuetero became a best-seller in Japan.
9.
Risa Wataya's first child, a son, was born in late 2015.
10.
Risa Wataya has said that Junot Diaz, Osamu Dazai, and Haruki Murakami are some of her favorite authors.