The Asahi reports that Kakuta Mitsuyo has won this year’s Izumi Kyoka Literary Prize for her short story collection かなたの子 (“The Child Beyond”).

Kakuta Mitsuyo is a perennial bestseller and at times a critical darling; Woman on the Other Shore and her smash hit The Eighth Day are available in English translations. According to the Asahi, the stories in  かなたの子  are linked by their “protagonist’s guilt for their inescapable pasts and memories, written by Kakuta’s expressive illusory worlds.” The 45-year old author also won the Naoki Prize in 2005 for Woman on the Other Shore.

Other recent winners of the Izumi Kyoka Award (that are available in English translation) include Tawada Yoko, Ogawa Yoko, and the recently deceased Maruya Saiichi. Kakuta will also receive one million yen.