Yōko Tawada Books in Order

Yōko Tawada is a Japanese writer currently residing in Berlin, Germany, where she skillfully navigates writing in both Japanese and German. Born in Tokyo, Tawada pursued her undergraduate degree at Waseda University in 1982, majoring in Russian literature. She later studied at Hamburg University, earning a master's degree in contemporary German literature, and later received her doctorate in German literature from the University of Zurich. In 1987, she published her first bilingual collection of poetry, Nur da wo du bist da ist nichts—Anata no iru tokoro dake nani mo nai. Tawada's writing prowess earned her several prestigious awards, including the Gunzo Prize for New Writers for Missing Heels in 1991 and the Akutagawa Prize for The Bridegroom Was a Dog in 1993. Her literary contributions have been recognized with the Adelbert von Chamisso Prize in 1996 and the Goethe Medal in 2005.