Amy Yamada

• Name — Amy Yamada • Birth Name — Yamada Futaba (山田双葉) • Pen Name — Yamada Eimi (山田詠美) • Born — 2 February 1959 • Birthplace — Tokyo, Japan • Occupation — Novelist, short-story writer, essayist

Yamada Amy (born Yamada Futaba 山田双葉) was born in Itabashi, Tokyo and moved frequently after the age of 2, due to the nature of her father's job. Over the course of her childhood, she lived in Sapporo City, Kaga City, Ashida City, Kanuma City. This transient lifestyle forced her to confront issues of separation and bullying, issues that many of her protagonists also deal with. According to her interview with the Japanese magazine Bungei, during middle school she was moved by African-American soul music and began to read any novels she could find written by black people, or featuring black people. She held a job in the Roppongi district of Tokyo, an area rich with foreigners. In high school, she was a member of the Arts, Mountaineering, and Literature Club. Her favorite authors were Boris Vian and Francoise Sagan. After graduating from high school in 1977, she entered Meiji University's Literature Department, but dropped out before graduating. Yamada had a short stint writing and drawing manga under her real name (Yamada Futaba). Her manga debuted in Manga Erogenica and she was featured as a dōjin (fanfic) and female erotic manga artist. While working part-time, she published Sugar Bar (Shugā Bā 1981), Miss Doll (Misu Dōru 1986), and Yokosuka Freaky (Yokosuka Furīkī 1986). She began writing novels in 1980. Though her works garnered some attention, even receiving praise from Japanese literary critic Jun Etō, she only achieved widespread recognition in 1985, when Bedtime Eyes won the Bungei Prize and was nominated for the Akutagawa Prize. In writing Bedtime Eyes, Yamada drew upon her experiences with black people and black culture and combined them with the Japanese literary tradition. In Yamada's second collection of works, Jesse's Spine, Yamada depicts the experiences of a woman who is learning to adjust to life with her lover's child from another relationship. The writing style of this work has been compared to William Saroyan's novel, Papa You're Crazy. Through her depiction of the child's perspective on the world, she was nominated yet again for the Akutagawa Prize (and subsequently again for The Piano Player's Fingers), though she did not receive it. In 1996, Trash was published in English translation by Kodansha International (translator: Sonya L. Johnson). In May 2006, three of Yamada's novellas (Bedtime Eyes 「ベッドタイム･アイズ」, The Piano Player's Fingers 「指の戯れ」 and Jesse「ジェシーの背骨」) were published in English translation (translators: Yumi Gunji and Marc Jardine) as a single volume by St Martin's Press under the collective title Bedtime Eyes.

• Title — Year — Translator — Publisher • "Kneel Down and Lick My Feet" in Monkey Brain Sushi: New Tastes In Japanese Fiction — 1991 — Terry Gallagher — Kodansha International • Trash — 1994 — Sonya Johnson — Kodansha International • "Fiesta" in Inside and Other Short Fiction — 2006 — Cathy Lane (Compiler) — Kodansha International • Bedtime Eyes — 2006 — Yumi Gunji/Marc Jardine — St. Martin's Press

• ベッドタイムアイズ (Beddotaimu Aizu) Bedtime Eyes (1985) • ジェシーの背骨 (Jeshī no Sebone) Jesse's Spine (1986) • ソウル・ミュージック・ラバーズ・オンリー (Sōru Myūjikku Rabāzu Onrī) Soul Music Lovers Only (1987) • 風葬の教室 (Fūsō no Kyōshitsu) Classroom for the Abandoned Dead (1988) • 放課後の音符 (Hōkago no Kii Nooto) Afterschool Music (1989) • トラッシュ (Torasshu) Trash (1991) • 僕は勉強ができない (Boku wa Benkyō ga Dekinai) I Can't Study (1993) • 120%COOOL (120% COOOL) 120%COOOL (1994) • アニマル・ロジック (Animaru Rojikku) Animal Logic (1996) • 4U (1997) • MAGNET (1999) • A2Z (2003) • PAY DAY!!! (2003)

Amy Yamada is recorded with the occupation comics artist. Recorded with the occupation novelist. Recorded with the occupation mangaka. Recorded with the occupation writer. Established in IdRef (French universities) under 03155623X. Amy Yamada is recorded as novelist, writer, mangaka and comics writer. Established in Library of Congress under n87868248. Established in FAST under 209503.

In her short novels Classroom for the Abandoned Dead, Afterschool Music, and I Can't Study, Yamada tackles the topics of childhood life, bullying, and school life. In an interview with Bungei Shunjū upon winning the Akutagawa Prize, Risa Wataya and Hitomi Kanehara named Yamada's Afterschool Music as one of their major influences, explaining that her works were one of the greatest depictions of modern Japan.

How Amy Yamada was received and recognised. Yamada received Izumi Kyōka Prize for Literature in 1996. Yamada received Women's Literature Prize in 1991. Yamada received Hirabayashi Taiko Prize in 1989. Yamada received Noma Literary Prize in 2012. Yamada received Kawabata award in 2016. Yamada received Tanizaki Prize in 2005. Yamada received Yomiuri Prize in 2001. Yamada received Naoki Prize in 1987.