Nihon Essayist Club Award
1 appearances
-
Edition 33 (1985) award
Chieko Seki
せき ちえこ
Seki Chieko
Profile
- Gender
- Female
- Born
- 1932-03-28 （Osaka）
- Died
- 2021-02-21 age 88
- Nationality
- Japan
- Languages
- Japanese
- Residence History
- Osaka → Hiroshima → Tokyo (moved to Tokyo) → United States (lived in the U.S.)
Career
- Occupations
- newspaper reporter, non-fiction writer, editor, library movement activist
- Active Years
- 1955-2021
- Affiliations
- The Mainichi Newspapers, Zenkoku Fujin Shinbunsha
Education
| Institution | Faculty | Department | Degree | Period | Country |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Waseda University | Faculty of Letters | Russian Literature | — | — | Japan |
Waseda University
Faculty of Letters
/ Russian Literature
Country:
Japan
Awards
| Year | Award | Work | Category | Organization | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1985 | Japan Essayists' Club Prize | Hiroshima Second Prefectural Girls, Class 2-W: Classmates Who Died in the Atomic Bomb | — | Japan Essayists' Club | 受賞 |
| — | Japan Congress of Journalists Encouragement Award | — | — | Japan Congress of Journalists | 受賞 |
Japan Essayists' Club Prize
1985
Work:
Hiroshima Second Prefectural Girls, Class 2-W: Classmates Who Died in the Atomic Bomb
Organization:
Japan Essayists' Club
Result:
受賞
Japan Congress of Journalists Encouragement Award
Organization:
Japan Congress of Journalists
Result:
受賞
Awards & Nominations
Works
Major Works
Hiroshima Second Prefectural Girls, Class 2-W: Classmates Who Died in the Atomic Bomb
1985 Non-fictionA reportage based on interviews with the families of classmates and teachers who died in the atomic bombing. Combining the author's own experience as a hibakusha, it portrays the lives of classmates and condemns the injustice of war and the atomic bomb.
Hiroshimaatomic bombingmemory of warsurvivor's guilt
The Birth of a Library: A Documentary of 20 Years of Hino Municipal Library
1986 Non-fictionRecords the 20-year history of Hino Municipal Library, depicting the role of local libraries and citizen-led initiatives.
library movementcivic activitylocal culture
This Country Is Terrifying: Another Kind of Old Age
1988 Non-fictionEssays and reportage examining aging and issues related to old age.
agingsocial securityfamily
Long Slope: Modern Women's Biographies
1989 Non-fictionA collection of reportage tracing the lives of contemporary women.
women's historysocial movements
Hiroshima Flower Stories
1990 Non-fictionShort records likening people and memories related to Hiroshima to flowers.
Hiroshimamemorycommunity
When New Leaves Sprout: The Birth of the New-Style High School
2000 Non-fictionA historical account based on reporting about the education reform and the birth of new-style high schools.
education historyschool system reform
Reportage on Single-Parent Families: The Mother's Old Age, The Child's Future
2009 Non-fictionReportage documenting the realities and challenges faced by single-parent families.
welfarefamilypoverty
Hiroshima's Boys and Girls: The Atomic Bomb, Yasukuni, and People from the Korean Peninsula
2015 Non-fictionA record portraying Hiroshima from diverse perspectives including hibakusha, their children, and people from the Korean Peninsula.
multiculturalismmemorydiscrimination and reconciliation
Bibliography
- Hiroshima Second Prefectural Girls, Class 2-W: Classmates Who Died in the Atomic Bomb
- The Birth of a Library: A Documentary of 20 Years of Hino Municipal Library
- This Country Is Terrifying: Another Kind of Old Age
- Long Slope: Modern Women's Biographies
- Hiroshima Flower Stories
- When New Leaves Sprout: The Birth of the New-Style High School
- Reportage on Single-Parent Families: The Mother's Old Age, The Child's Future
- Hiroshima's Boys and Girls: The Atomic Bomb, Yasukuni, and People from the Korean Peninsula
- From Hiroshima and Nagasaki: Living Postwar Democracy — Correspondence (co-author)
- Seki Chieko & Nakayama Shirou: Hiroshima Correspondence (3 vols., co-author)
- Hiroshima Dialogue Essays 2016-2018 (co-author)
Style & Themes
- Literary Style
- reportage-based documentary stylecalm narrative that nonetheless contains emotional undercurrents
- Recurring Motifs
- memory of war and bombingsurvivor's responsibility and guiltcommunity, libraries, and education
Health
-
hemorrhagic gastric ulcer2021年（最晩年）Died of a hemorrhagic gastric ulcer in February 2021. This ended her activities in her final years.
Legacy
Chieko Seki, starting from her experience as a hibakusha, was known as a non-fiction writer and former journalist who produced reportage-based works and engaged in civic activities such as library founding. She is recognized for preserving Hiroshima's memory and contributing to local library development.
Academic Societies
- Japan Essayists' Club
Trivia
- She was exposed to the Hiroshima bombing in 1945 but survived because she was absent from work that day due to illness and was located farther from the hypocenter.
- About 40 of her classmates at the Second Prefectural Girls' School died in the bombing; this motivated much of her work.
- Worked as a female reporter at The Mainichi Newspapers at a time when there were few women in reporting roles.
- Moved to the United States in 1967 with her family and worked on creating library spaces at Japanese language schools there.
- She continued anti-war and anti-nuclear activism until her final years.