Hiroko Oyamada

Hiroko Oyamada was born in Hiroshima and remained there throughout her schooling, graduating in 2006 with a degree in Japanese literature from Hiroshima University. After graduation, she changed jobs three times in five years, including a stint at a large car manufacturing factory, an experience that inspired her debut story, Kōjō (The Factory), which won the 42nd Shincho Prize for New Writers in 2010. She later received the Oda Sakunosuke Prize in 2013 for Kōjō (The Factory). Later that year, her novella Ana (The Hole) was published in the literary magazine Shinchō, earning her the 150th prestigious Akutagawa Prize. She cites Franz Kafka and Mario Vargas Llosa as writers who have had a decisive influence on her. She lives in Hiroshima with her husband and daughter.