Miyuki Miyabe (宮部 みゆき Miyabe Miyuki, born December 23, 1960) is a popular contemporary Japanese author active in a number of genres that include science fiction, mystery fiction, historical fiction, social commentary, and young adult literature. Her most famous novels in the English-speaking world are Crossfire (クロスファイア), published in 1998, and Kasha (火車), translated by Alfred Birnbaum as All She Was Worth, published in 1999. Among anime fans, her fantasy novel Brave Story is well regarded; it has notably been adapted into an animated film, an "alternate retelling" manga series, and a series of video games.
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Biography
Miyabe was born in the Kōtō ward of Tokyo, Japan and graduated from Sumidagawa High School. She started writing novels at the age of 23. In 1984, while working at a law office, Miyabe began to take writing classes at a writing school run by the Kodansha publishing company. Her debut work is considered to be her 1987 short story "Warera ga rinjin no hanzai" (我らが隣人の犯罪). She has been a prolific writer, publishing dozens of novels and winning many major literary prizes, including the Yamamoto Shūgorō Prize in 1993 for All She Was Worth and the Naoki Prize in 1999 for Riyū [The Reason] (理由). A Japanese film adaptation of Riyū, directed by Nobuhiko Obayashi, was released in 2004 (reviewed by Mark Schilling in The Japan Times (5 January 2005)).
Works in English translation
Crime/thriller novels
All She Was Worth (original title: Kasha), trans. Alfred Birnbaum (Mariner Books, 1999)
Crossfire, trans. Deborah Iwabuchi and Anna Isozaki (Kodansha America, 2006)
The Devil's Whisper (original title: Majutsu wa sasayaku), trans. Deborah Iwabuchi (Kodansha America, 2007)
The Sleeping Dragon (original title: Ryū wa nemuru), trans. Deborah Iwabuchi (Kodansha America, 2010)—the winner of the 45th Mystery Writers of Japan Award
Brave Story, trans. Alexander O. Smith (VIZ Fiction, 2007)
The Book of Heroes (original title: Eiyu no sho), trans. Alexander O. Smith (Haikasoru, 2010)
Ico: Castle in the Mist, trans. Alexander O. Smith (Haikasoru, 2011)
The Gate of Sorrows, trans. Jim Hubbert (Haikasoru, 2016)
Horror story collection
Apparitions: Ghosts of Old Edo, trans. Daniel Huddleston (Haikasoru, 2013)
"A Drowsing Dream of Shinjū" (original title: Inemuri Shinjū)
"Cage of Shadows" (original title: Kage Rō)
"The Futon Storeroom" (original title: Futon-Beya)
"The Plum Rains Fall" (original title: Ume no Ame Furu)
"The “Oni” of the Adachi House" (original title: Adachi Ke no Oni)
"A Woman's Head" (original title: Onna no Kubi)
"The Oni in the Autumn Rain" (original title: Shigure Oni)
"Ash Kagura" (original title: Hai Kagura)
"The Mussel Mound" (original title: Shijimi-Zuka)
Short stories
"The Futon Room" (original title: Futon-Beya), trans. Stephen A. Carter (Kaiki: Uncanny Tales from Japan, Volume 1: Tales of Old Edo, Kurodahan Press, 2009)
"Chiyoko" (original title: Chiyoko) (Phantasm Japan: Fantasies Light and Dark, From and About Japan, Haikasoru, 2014)
Awards
Japanese Awards
1992 - Mystery Writers of Japan Award for Best Novel: The Sleeping Dragon
1992 - Yoshikawa Eiji Prize for New Writers: Honjo Fukagawa Fushigi-zōshi
1993 - Yamamoto Shūgorō Prize: All She Was Worth
1997 - Japan SF Award: Gamōtei Jiken
1998 - Japan Adventure Fiction Association Prize: Riyū (The Reason)
1999 - Naoki Prize: Riyū (The Reason)
2002 - The Best Japanese Crime Fiction of the Year (Kono Mystery ga Sugoi! 2002): Puppet Master
2008 - Batchelder Award for Best translated children's book: Brave Story
Criticism
Amanda C. Seaman, Bodies of Evidence: Women, Society, and Detective Fiction in 1990s Japan (University of Hawai'i Press, 2004), 26–56 (on All She Was Worth)
Idem, "There goes the neighbourhood: community and family in Miyabe Miyuki's Riyû," Japan Forum 16/2 (2004): 271–87
Film/Television
Some of her novels have been made into TV drama series and films:
