Yoko Tawada

http://yokotawada.de/
Yoko Tawada was born in Tokyo in 1960, educated at Waseda
University and has lived in Germany since 1982, where she received her Ph.D. in
German literature. She received the prestigious Akutagawa Prize for The
Bridegroom Was a Dog. She writes in both German and Japanese, and in 1996, she
won the Adalbert-von-Chamisso Prize, a German award recognizing foreign writers
for their contributions to German culture. She also received the Goethe-Medal, an
official decoration of the Federal Republic of Germany. She is a scholar of poetics,
creative writing, and linguistic, philosophical, and cultural encounters with
languages.
Awards and Prizes
-Sponsorship Award for Literature in the City of Hamburg (1990)
-The Literature Prize Gunzo-Shinjin-Bungaku-Sho (1991)
-Akutagawa-Sho (1993)
-Author Scholarship from the Stiftung Niedersachsen (1993)
-Lessing-Sponsorship Award (1994)
-Adelbert-von-Chamisso Prize (1996)
-Scholarship from the Villa Aurora, California (1997)
-Poetics Teacher in Tbingen (1998)
-Max Kade Distinguished Visitor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology USA
(Feb.- May 1999)
-Scholarship of the German Literary Fund (Nov. 1999-April 2000)
-Scholarship of the Robert-Bosch-Stiftung (May 2000 November 2000)
-Izumi-Kyooka Literature Prize (2000)
-Ito-Sei-Literature Prize (2003)
-Tanizaki-Junichiro- Literature Prize (2003)
-Goethe-Medal (2005)
-Tsubouchi-Shoyo-Taisho (2009)
Book Publications in Germany
Yoko Tawada writes in German and Japanese
(*= written in German)
1. Nur da wo du bist da ist nichts (poems and prose) 1987
2. Das Bad (novel) 1989
3. Wo Europa anfngt (poems and prose) 1991 (partially written in German*)
4. *Ein Gast (novella) 1993

5. *Die Kranichmaske die bei Nacht strahlt (drama)1993 (premiered in Graz, guest
performances in Hamburg and Berlin, new staging in Nuremberg)
6. Tintenfisch auf Reisen (3 short prose pieces) 1994
7. *Talisman (literary essays) 1996
8. Aber die Mandarinen mssen heute Abend noch geraubt werden (dream texts) 1997
(partially written in German*)
9. *Wie der Wind in Ei (drama) 1997 (premiered in Graz, guest performances in
Berlin)
10. *Verwandlungen (Tbingen Lecture Series) 1998
11. *Orpheus oder Izanagi Till (radio play and drama) 1998 (premiered in
Hannover, guest performances in Tokyo, Kyoto, and Kobe)
12. *Opium fr Ovid. Ein Kopfkissenbuch fr 22 Frauen (prose) 2000
13. *berseezungen (prose) 2002
14. *Das nackte Auge (prose) 2004
15. *Was ndert der Regen an unserem Leben? (opera project with Peter Ablinger)
2005
16. *Sprachpolizei und Spielpolyglotte 2007
17. *Schwager in Bordeaux 2008
18. *Abenteuer der deutschen Grammatik 2010
Artist Books
1. Spiegelbild (with Angelik Riemer) Berlin: Edition Mariannepresse, 1994.
2. Ein Gedicht fr ein Buch (with Stephan Khler and Clemens Tobias Lange)
Hamburg: CTL Press, 1996.
3. Dreizehn (with Karsten Nikolai and noto) Gotha: Edition Balance, 1998.
4. Sonderzeichen Europa (with Lszl Mrton) Ranitz Dialogue 1. Linz: Edition
Thanhuser, 2009.
CD
diagonal CD (with Aki Takase) 2002
Book Publications in Japan
1. Sanninkankei 1991 (Kodansha) Short prose. Partially translated into English and
Chinese.
2. Inumukoiri 1993 (Kodansha) Short prose. Paperback edition 1998. Partially
translated into English.
3. Arufabetto no kizuguchi 1993 (Kawade-shoboz) Novel. Mojiishoku paperback
edition 1999. Translated into English.
4. Gottoharuto-tetsudo 1996 (Kodansha) Short prose. Partially translated into
English.
5. Seijo-densetsu 1996 (Oota-shuppan) Novel.
6. Kitsunetsuki 1998 (Shinshokan) Prose poems.
7. Hikon 1998 (Kodansha) Novel. Translated into Polish.

8. Futakuchiotoko 1998 (Kawade-shobo) Short prose. Partially translated into

English.
9. Katakoto no uwagoto 1999 (Seidosha) Essays.
10. Hinagiku no cha no baai 2000 (Shincho) Short prose.
11. Hikari to Zerashin no raipuchihhi (Kodansha) Short prose. Translated into
Korean.
12. Henshin no tame no opiumu 2001 (Kodansha) = Opium fr Ovid.
13. Kyukeijikan 2002 (Shincho) Novel. Translated into Taiwanese.
14. Yogisha no yakoressha 2002 (Seidosha) Short prose. Translated into French.
15. Exophonie 2003 (Iwanami) Essays.
16. Tabi wo suru hadaka no me 2004 (Kodansha) = Das nackte Auge.
17. Umi ni otoshita namae 2006 (Shincho) Short prose.
18. Kasa no shitai to watashi no tsuma 2006 (Shincho) Poems.
19. Amerika Hidoo no tairiku Reisegeschichten 2006 (Seidosha) Short prose.
20. Tokeru machi sukekyuru michi (Nikkei Shinbun) 2007 Essays.
21. Borudoo no gikei (Kodansha) 2009 = Schwager in Bordeaux.
Available in English
1. The Bridegroom Was a Dog. Novels. New York: Kodansha International, 1998.
2. Where Europe Begins. New York: New Directions, 2002.
3. Facing the Bridge. Novels. New York: New Directions, 2007.
4. The Naked Eye. New York: New Directions, 2009.
Recent Articles in Anthologies und Edited Volumes (short sample of new
publications in German)
1. Zukunft ohne Herkunft. In: Zukunft! Zukunft? (ISBN: 9783887691530) With
Batya Gur, Barbara Honigmann, Zo Jenny, Herta Mller, Alissa Walser,
Dubravka Ugresic and Yoko Tawada. konkursbuchverlag Claudia Gehrke.
2. Eine Heidin in einem Heidekloster. In: Poesie und Stille. Schriftstellerinnen
schreiben in Klstern. (ISBN-10: 3-8353-0460-7) With Nora Bossong, Daniela Danz,
Ulrike Draesner, Patricia Grg, Dorothea Grnzweig, Ursula Krechel, Dagmar
Leupold, Sybille Lewitscharoff, Brigitte Oleschinski, Angelika Overath, Marion
Poschmann, Beate Rothmaier, Julia Schoch und Yoko Tawada. Wallstein Verlag.
3. Kamikaze und Harakiri. In Mrtyrer-Portrts. (Ed. Sigrid Weigel) Wilhelm
Fink Verlag.
4. Otedama. In: Familien-Bande. (Eds. Sigrun Casper and Claudia Gehrke)
konkursbuchverlag.
5. Sakiware. In: Lichterfeste, Schattenspiele. (Ed. Pter Esterhzy) With Marica
Bodroi, Maria Cecilia Barbetta, Tzveta Sofronieva, Zsusanna Gahse, Ilma
Rakusa, Rafik Schami, Saa Stanii, Jos F.A.Oliver, Said and many other
authors. Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag.

Readings and Lectures

Over 750 readings and lectures in literary houses, theatres, book stores, Goethe
institutes, museums, churches, temples, schools and universities in Europe, Asia,
America and Africa
Most Recent Readings in the USA (2010)
March 28. Washington University, St. Louis
March 29. University of Minnesota
March 31. Penn State University, State College
April 5. Brown University, Providence
Writer-in-Residence in the USA
1. Villa Aurora, Pacific Palisades (Oct.-Nov. 1996)
2. M.I.T. Boston (Feb.-May 1999)
3. University of Kentucky (April 2004)
4. Deutsches Haus of New York University (Nov.-Dec. 2004)
5. Washington University in St. Louis (March-April 2008)
6. Stanford University (Feb. 2009)
7. Cornell University (April 2009)