Masumi Oshima (大島 真寿美, Ōshima Masumi) is a Japanese writer. She has won the Bungakukai Prize and the Naoki Prize, and her works have been adapted for television and film.

Masumi Oshima
Native name
大島 真寿美
Born1962 (age 61–62)
OccupationWriter
LanguageJapanese
NationalityJapanese
GenreFiction
Notable works
  • Chocolietta
  • Nijiiro Tenki Ame
  • Bitter Sugar
  • Uzu: Imoseyama Onna Teikin, Tamamusubi
Notable awards

Biography

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Masumi Oshima was born in 1962.[1] She was raised in Nagoya and grew up reading science fiction. At the age of 20 she started writing a script for a play, but eventually turned to writing novels. In 1992, she submitted her story Haru no Tejinaji (lit. Spring Magician) to Bungakukai magazine's new writer contest, and won the 74th Bungakukai Prize.[2]

Oshima's 2003 novel Chocolietta, about a young woman who uses the Federico Fellini film La Strada to recover from her grief, was adapted into a film by screenwriter and director Shiori Kazawa. The film premiered at the 2014 Tokyo International Film Festival and was released nationally in 2015.[3] Oshima's 2009 novel Nijiiro Tenki Ame (lit. Rainbow Weather) and its 2010 sequel Bitter Sugar, about three women whose friendship is tested as they approach the age of 40, were adapted into a 2011 NHK drama called Bitter Sugar, starring Ryō, Emi Wakui, and Sawa Suzuki.[4]

Oshima was first nominated for the Naoki Prize in 2015 for her novel Anata no Hontō no Jinsei wa (lit. Your Real Life), a story about a young writer who discovers that a famous author's works are actually written by someone else.[5] In 2019, Oshima won the 161st Naoki Prize for her novel Uzu: Imoseyama Onna Teikin, Tamamusubi (lit. Whirlpool: Husband and Wife Mountains, A Mirror of Virtuous Women, Requiem), a work of historical fiction about 18th century playwright and puppeteer Hanji Chikamatsu.[6]

Awards and recognition

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Selected works

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  • Chocolietta, 2003, Kadokawa Shoten, ISBN 9784048734462
  • Nijiiro Tenki Ame, 2009, Shogakukan, ISBN 9784094083385
  • Bitter Sugar, 2010, Shogakukan, ISBN 9784093862790
  • Anata no Hontō no Jinsei wa, 2014, Bungeishunjū, ISBN 9784163901367
  • Uzu: Imoseyama Onna Teikin, Tamamusubi, 2019, Bungeishunjū, ISBN 9784163909875

Adaptations

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  • Bitter Sugar, 2011, NHK[8]
  • Chocolietta, 2014[3]

References

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  1. ^ a b "第161回直木賞 大島真寿美さん『渦』が受賞&芥川賞は今村夏子さん『むらさきのスカートの女』が受賞". Bunshun Online (in Japanese). Bunshun. July 17, 2019. Archived from the original on November 27, 2019. Retrieved September 18, 2019.
  2. ^ 瀧井, 朝世 (August 25, 2010). "作家の読書道 第106回:大島真寿美さん" (in Japanese). Archived from the original on May 3, 2019. Retrieved September 18, 2019.
  3. ^ a b 石井, 百合子 (October 15, 2014). "フェリーニの名作『道』にオマージュ!「ジェルソミーナ&ザンパノ」ごっこ映像お披露目". Cinema Today (in Japanese). Archived from the original on November 27, 2019. Retrieved September 18, 2019.
  4. ^ "ビターシュガー:りょう主演のNHKドラマ アラフォー女性の本音がさく裂". MANTAN Web (in Japanese). Mainichi Shimbun. October 18, 2011. Archived from the original on November 27, 2019. Retrieved September 18, 2019.
  5. ^ 戸谷, 真美 (January 26, 2015). "書くことの本質にアクセス 大島真寿美さんの新作「あなたの本当の人生は」". Sankei Shimbun (in Japanese). Archived from the original on November 27, 2019. Retrieved September 18, 2019.
  6. ^ "Two women named for Japan's Akutagawa, Naoki literary awards". Kyodo News. July 17, 2019. Archived from the original on July 18, 2019. Retrieved September 18, 2019.
  7. ^ "直木賞受賞者一覧" [List of Naoki Prize Winners]. 日本文学振興会 (in Japanese). Archived from the original on April 5, 2019. Retrieved September 18, 2019.
  8. ^ "よる☆ドラ:「ビターシュガー」". NHK. Archived from the original on November 27, 2019. Retrieved September 18, 2019.