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Makoto Osawa

オオサワ マコト

Osawa Makoto

Profile

Gender
Male
Nationality
Japan
Languages
Japanese

Career

Occupations
novelist
Active Years
2010-

Awards

Akutagawa Prize
2023
Work: The Upside-Down Holy Girl
Organization: Selection Committee
Result: winner

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

The Upside-Down Holy Girl

2023 short story 48 pages

A short story in which a young girl confronts the overlap of memory and reality. Through inverted perspectives and symbolic imagery, the tale explores loss and renewal, faith and doubt.

inversiongirlhoodmemoryloss and renewal
Translations
  • The Upside-Down Holy Girl — English translation

The Windowless Town

2018 novella 112 pages

Set in a closed-off town, this novella intertwines fragmented memories and tenuous relationships. Written in a quiet style, it depicts subtle distortions of everyday life.

lonelinessurban lifememory

Bibliography

  • The Upside-Down Holy Girl (short story, 2023)
  • The Windowless Town (novella, 2018)
  • Silent Hearts (short story collection, 2015)

Translations of Works

  • The Upside-Down Holy Girl — Japanese original translated into English

Style & Themes

Literary Style
concise, visual proseuse of symbolic motifs
Recurring Motifs
mirrorsinversiongirl's perspectivewindows/closed spaces

Legacy

Makoto Osawa has been recognized as a promising new voice in contemporary short fiction, opening a distinctive terrain with symbolic and visual prose. His award-winning piece, 'The Upside-Down Holy Girl,' is cited as broadening the expressive range of young writers.

Quotes

  • Sometimes the world looks upside down. It doesn't always tell the truth, but it shows something.
    Source: The Upside-Down Holy Girl (short story, 2023) (2023)

Trivia

  • Won a major literary prize for 'The Upside-Down Holy Girl'.
  • There may be no dedicated Wikipedia article for the author at present.