Yu, Miri 1968-

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Yu, Miri 1968-

PERSONAL:

Born 1968, in Yokohama, Japan.

ADDRESSES:

Agent—c/o Author Mail, Welcome Rain Publishers L.L.C., 532 Laguardia Pl., Ste. 473, New York, NY, 10012-1428.

CAREER:

Writer and novelist.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Akutagawa Prize, 1997, for Kazoku shiniema ("Family Cinema").

WRITINGS:

Seibutsuga (fiction), Jiritsu Shobo (Tokyo, Japan), 1991.

Uo no matsuri, Shuppanshafumei (Shuppanchifumei), 1992.

Himawari no hitsugi (fiction), Jiritsu Shobo (Tokyo, Japan), 1993.

Hinemi. Uo no matsuri, Hakusuisha (Tokyo, Japan), 1993.

Hinemi. Sakan no matsuri, Hakusuisha (Tokyo, Japan), 1993.

Green Bench, Kawade Shobo (Tokyo, Japan), 1994, published in Japanese as Gurin benchi, Kawadeshoboshinsha (Tokyo, Japan), 1994.

Kazoku no hyohon = Family Disunity (fiction), Asan Shinbunsha (Tokyo, Japan), 1995.

Yu Miri no "jisatsu:" Kawade Shobo Shinsha (Tokyo, Japan), 1995.

Furu hausu (fiction), Bungei Shunju (Tokyo, Japan), 1996.

Shigo jiten = A Private Glossary, 1996.

Mado no aru shoten kara, Kadokawa Haruki Jimusho (Tokyo, Japan), 1996.

Kotoba no ressun, Asahi Shinbunsha (Tokyo, Japan), 1996.

Kazoku shiniema (fiction; title means "Family Cinema"), Kodansha (Tokyo, Japan), 1997.

Mizube no yurikago (fiction), Kadokawa Shoten (Tokyo, Japan), 1997.

Tairu (fiction), Bungei Shunju (Tokyo, Japan), 1997.

Nau ando zen Yu Miri: Yu Miri jishin ni yoru zensakhuhin kaisetsu purasu gojuichi no shitsumon, Kadokawa Shoten (Tokyo, Japan), 1997.

Now and then Yu Miri: Yu Miri jishin ni yoru zensakuhin kaisetsu purasu gojuichi no shitsumon, Kadokawa Shoten (Tokyo, Japan), 1997.

Kamen no kuni, Shinchosha (Tokyo, Japan), 1998.

Gorudo rasshu, Shinchosha (Tokyo, Japan), 1998, translated by Stephen Snyder published as Gold Rush, Welcome Rain Publishers (New York, NY), 2002.

Jogakusei no tomo (fiction), Bungei Shunju (Tokyo, Japan), 1999.

Jisatsu, Kadokawa Haruki Jimusho (Tokyo, Japan), 1999.

Kazoku shinema (fiction), Kodansha (Tokyo, Japan), 1999.

Otoko (fiction), Media Fakutori (Tokyo, Japan), 2000.

Inochi, Shogakkan (Tokyo, Japan), 2000.

sakana ga mita yume, Shinchosha (Tokyo, Japan), 2000.

Tamashii, Shogakkan (Tokyo, Japan), 2001.

Turu (fiction, title means "Rouge"), Kadokawa Shoten (Tokyo, Japan) 2001.

Kotoba wa shizuka ni odoru, Shinchosha (Tokyo, Japan), 2001.

Ikiru, Shogakkan (Tokyo, Japan), 2001.

Sekai no hibiware to tamashii no kuhaku o, Shinchosha (Tokyo, Japan), 2001.

Koe, Shogakkan (Tokyo, Japan), 2001.

Contributor to screenplay Kajok sinema (based on author's novel Kazoku shinema), Yoongsong P'urodoksyon: p'anmae Saehan (Seoul, South Korea), 1999; books have been published in Korean, English, French, Italian, and Chinese.

SIDELIGHTS:

Miri Yu is a Korean-Japanese fiction writer and novelist. Yu's turbulent teen years as the daughter of ethnic Koreans who always lived in Japan has inspired the tenor of her dark short stories and novels. Despite her popularity as a writer and her winning the prestigious Japanese literary award called the Akutagawa Prize, she has gained widespread notoriety throughout Japan, to the point that she has received hate mail. Part of the notoriety is due to Yu's Korean background and the bigotry by some Japanese. Another part is due to a pair of memoirs that she wrote in which she describes an affair with a much older man and having a child without marrying, both cultural taboos. Nevertheless, as a highly successful author, she has gained a wide readership in Japan, Korea, and China. Her first book to be printed in English, the novel Gold Rush, was inspired by the true story of a murdered schoolboy whose head was left at the entrance of the local junior high school by his fourteen-year-old killer. In the novel, the fourteen-year-old protagonist, Kazuki, wanders the slums of Yokohama doing drugs and associating with gangsters. Completely amoral, Kazuki eventually murders his own father and tries to take over his gaming business. The novel follows Kazuki as he enters the adult world of crime and prostitution and battles with his sense of guilt and with the police. A Publishers Weeklycontributor called Gold Rush "a captivating analysis of a psychological meltdown." Celeste Loughman, writing in World Literature Today, noted that the author "uses a number of fiction devices, including shifts in time, multiple perspectives, and the process of consciousness." A Kirkus Reviews contributor commented on the novel's "distinctive and disturbing imagery."