Takako Takahashi

Takako Takahashi (1932–2013) only began writing at the age of thirty-nine, following the death of her husband, the author Kazumi Takahashi. She converted to Catholicism in 1975, spending time in a Japanese convent and later living modestly in Paris. Her work is deeply engaged with existentialism, sexuality, and sin and is often dreamlike and disturbing, blurring the line between perception and hallucination. She won numerous major literary awards, including the Female Writers’ Award, the Yomiuri Prize, and the Mainichi Arts Award.