The selection committee for the 168th Akutagawa Prize and the Naoki Prize was held in Tokyo on the 19th. was

Ms. Shoko Idogawa's award-winning work "Joy of the World"

Saiko Idogawa is 35 years old from Hyogo Prefecture.



After graduating from university, he started writing poetry and novels while working as a Japanese language teacher at a high school. Kawa” won the Noma Literary Newcomer Award.



Her Akutagawa Prize was her first nomination.



Her award-winning novel, Joy of the World, centers on a middle-aged woman who has finished raising her two daughters and works in the mourning department of a shopping center.



Through interacting with a girl who visits her shopping center almost every day, her memories of raising children and her past thoughts are awakened, and her main character regains her joy in life. I am drawing.



In her work, her main character is expressed in the second person, "you," and is portrayed from the point of view of someone watching over her.

Atsushi Sato's award-winning work "Family in the Wasteland"

Atsushi Sato is 40 years old from Sendai City.



He started writing novels in his mid-twenties after graduating from university, and made his debut in 2017 with the literary magazine's New Writer Award for "Januma."



He currently works at a bookstore in Sendai City, and based on his own experiences a year ago, he published a novel with the theme of the earthquake, such as "Elephant Skin", which depicts a bookstore worker who was affected by the Great East Japan Earthquake. I am writing.



This is the first time that I have been nominated for the Akutagawa Prize.



The award-winning work "Family in the Wasteland" is about a 40-year-old gardener who lives in Watari-cho, Miyagi Prefecture, which was severely damaged by the tsunami caused by the earthquake.



A man who had his work tools stolen by the tsunami and was forced to live a hard life lost his wife to illness two years later.



The relationship with his family and the landscape of his hometown are changing, and the main character struggles to rebuild his life while feeling a sense of loss.