Natsuki Koyata


Natsuki Koyata is a Japanese writer. She has won the Mishima Yukio Prize, the Japan Fantasy Novel Award, and the Oda Sakunosuke Prize.

Early life and education

Koyata was born in Abiko, Chiba, Japan in 1981. In junior high school she initially participated in the softball club, then quit group activities and refused to go to school, instead spending time reading at the local library. Koyata later returned to school and eventually graduated from Nishogakusha University in Tokyo. After graduation she worked in temporary jobs and began writing her first novel.

Career

Koyata made her literary debut with ', a Christmas fantasy story that was published as a book in 2013 under the title ' and won that year's Japan Fantasy Novel Award. The novel ' followed the next year.
In 2016 Koyata's book Release, a story about sexuality and discrimination set in a near future society, won the 34th Oda Sakunosuke Prize. Release was also nominated for the 30th Mishima Yukio Prize, but the prize went to Yusuke Miyauchi. The next year she was nominated again and won the 31st Mishima Yukio Prize for '. That same year Koyata's book , a story about relationships and sexuality in the life of a fifteen year old girl set in a fantasy society in which animals and people are family, was published by Shinchosha. Nozomu no wa won the 17th Sense of Gender Awards Grand Prize.
In 2018 Mugen no gen was published in a book along with the story, which was nominated for the 159th Akutagawa Prize.

Recognition