SHIMADA Masahiko

SHIMADA Masahiko
  • Asia
  • Eastern Asia
  • Japan
Japanese

SHIMADA Masahiko (fiction writer; b. 1961, Japan ) is one of the most visible authors and commentators in Japan today. During his studies in Russian and East European languages at Tokyo University of Foreign Languages, he published the novella A Tender Divertimento for Leftists (1983), which was named runner-up for the Akutagawa Prize. The following year he received the Noma New Writer's Award for Music for a Somnambulant Kingdom (1984). Other works include the novellas Cry of the Refugee Vacationers (1986) and Requiem for a Conscious Machine (1985); the short story collection Donna Anna; and a socio-pathological study on AIDS entitled Unidentified Shadow (1987). Several short stories and his 1989 novel Dream Messenger have been translated into English. Shimada founded and directed a successful theater group during the 1990s. He is currently teaching at Hosei University, and participating courtesy of the Freeman Foundation.

Happening Now

  • In a recent Haaretz piece, Odeh Bisharat describes the efforts of the Arab-Jewish solidarity movement Standing Together to collect food for needy Gazans as well as build a long-term political coalition.

  • Among the upcoming titles at the lively regional CEEOL Press is 1945 and Other Stories., an English translation of Gábor Szántó’s Hungarian original.

  • An excerpt from Lidija Dimkovska’s most recent novel [Personal Identity Number] appears in the July 2024 issue of World Literature Today.

  • The Spring 2024 issue of the Michigan Quarterly Review features an excerpt from Amira-Géhanne Khalfallah’s new novel Onboard the Amsterdam or, the Last Voyage of Ibn Battûta,  surveying the burning topics of migrancy, radicalization, and exile. 
     

  • In an opinion piece for NYTimes, Veronica Raimo plumbs the (shallow) depths of Italian women’s media representation.

Find Us Online