Real World (19 page)

A NOTE ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Natsuo Kirino, born in 1951, is the author of sixteen novels, four short-story collections, and an essay collection. She is the recipient of six of Japan’s premier literary awards, including the Mystery Writers of Japan Award for
Out,
the Izumi Kyoka Prize for Literature for
Grotesque,
and the Naoki Prize for
Soft Cheeks.
Her work has been published in nineteen languages worldwide; several of her books have also been turned into movies.
Out
was the first of her novels to appear in English and was nominated for an Edgar Award. She lives in Tokyo.

A NOTE ABOUT THE TRANSLATOR

Philip Gabriel is professor of Japanese literature at the University of Arizona. He has translated works by Kenzaburo Oe, Senji Kuroi, Akira Yoshimura, Masahiko Shimada, and Haruki Murakami, including Murakami’s
Kafka on the Shore; Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman
(cotranslator);
Sputnik Sweetheart;
and
South of the Border, West of the Sun.
Gabriel is a recipient of the PEN/Book-of-the-Month Club Translation Prize (2006), and the Japan-U.S. Friendship Commission Prize for Translation of Japanese Literature (2001).