Abstract

A gift for those standing at a crossroads, lost in doubt—
a memory of loss and rebirth.
This story will gently light your tomorrow.

Yoshiko Takashiro, active as a picture book author, was once Miyako’s stepmother. Miyako, who works as a manga artist’s assistant, meets Yoshiko again after accepting an invitation to travel, only to realize that Yoshiko’s days are numbered. To fulfill Yoshiko’s wish to create together, “mother” and “daughter” deepen the concept of their picture book Blue during their stay at a lakeside hotel… (“The Blue Picture Book”).

Writers, editors, therapists, booksellers—people involved with picture books in various ways—engage in dialogue with their past and find renewal through them. With a quiet, delicate touch, the author weaves these stories.

A collection of five short pieces, including the title story, by a master of the short form, portraying the light and shadow of life in a series of literary gems.

Author’s Information

Born in Hokkaido in 1965. In 2002, she won the All Yomimono New Writers Prize with Yukimushi.
In 2007, she made her book debut with Ice Horizon. In 2013, she received the Shimase Romance Literary Prize for Loveless and the Naoki Prize for Hotel Royal. In 2020, she won the Chūōkōron Literary Prize for Kazoku Jimai.
Her other works include Terminal, Blues, Naked Flower, Hi no Kawa (The Scarlet River), Sajo (On the Sand), Heroine, and The Woman from the Valley.
She has also published picture books such as Even If One Day I Forget You (illustrated by Mika Ozawa) and the photo picture book They (photography by Masako Nakagawa), among many others.