was a distinguished Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

ese author and translator of children's books.

Ishii was born in Urawa, Saitama

Urawa, Saitama

was a city in Saitama Prefecture, Japan, until it merged into the city of Saitama together with two other cities, Omiya and Yono, on May 1, 2001. In 2003, the former area of Urawa became Urawa-ku, Midori-ku, Minami-ku, and Sakura-ku, which are wards of the city of Saitama...

, and graduated from the Japan Women's University

Japan Women's University

is the oldest and largest of private Japanese women's universities. The university was established in 20 April 1901 by education reformist .The university has around 6000 students and 200 faculty...

 with an English literature degree. While working as an editor at Iwanami Shoten Publishers, she decided to become a children's writer after reading Winnie-the-Pooh

Winnie-the-Pooh

Winnie-the-Pooh, also called Pooh Bear, is a fictional anthropomorphic bear created by A. A. Milne. The first collection of stories about the character was the book Winnie-the-Pooh , and this was followed by The House at Pooh Corner...

by English author A. A. Milne

A. A. Milne

Alan Alexander Milne was an English author, best known for his books about the teddy bear Winnie-the-Pooh and for various children's poems. Milne was a noted writer, primarily as a playwright, before the huge success of Pooh overshadowed all his previous work.-Biography:A. A...

, which she translated in 1940. Her first book as an author, Non-chan kumo ni noru (Non-chan rides on a cloud) was published in 1947; a best-seller, it was made into a movie

Non-chan kumo ni noru

, literally: Nobuko Rides on a Cloud, is a 1955 Japanese film directed by Fumito Kurata. It was based on a best-seller by Momoko Ishii.- Cast :* Setsuko Hara as Nobuko's mother* Haruko Wanibuchi as Nobuko Tashiro* Susumu Fujita as Nobuko's father...

 in 1955. All told, she published nineteen books of her own and 120 translations for children.

Ishii received many honors in her life, including the Minister of Education Award for Promotion of Art for Non-chan kumo ni noru (1951), the Kikuchi Kan Award for achievement and contribution to the postwar world of children's literature (1953), the Itochu Memorial Foundation Award for Distinguished Service to Children's Bunko (1984), the Japanese Art Academy Award for achievement in the world of children's books (1993), and the 1994 Yomiuri Prize

Yomiuri Prize

The is a prestigious literary award in Japan. The prize was founded in 1948 by the Yomiuri Shinbun Company to help form a "cultural nation". The winner is awarded one million Japanese yen and an inkstone.-Award categories:...

for her two-volume autobiographical novel Maboroshi No Akai Mi (Memoirs of a childhood) in 1995. In 1997 she became a member of the Japanese Art Academy, the first member from the field of children's literature.