Yūko Tsushima is the pen name of Satoko Tsushima, a contemporary Japanese fiction writer

Writer

A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....

, essayist and critic. She is also the daughter of famed novelist Osamu Dazai

Osamu Dazai

was a Japanese author who is considered one of the foremost fiction writers of 20th-century Japan.-Biography:-Early life:Dazai was born , the eighth surviving child of a wealthy landowner in Kanagi, a remote corner of Japan at the northern tip of Tōhoku in Aomori Prefecture...

, who died when she was only one year old.

While attending Shirayuri Women's University

Shirayuri Women's University

is a Catholic Japanese women's university located in Chōfu, Tokyo. The university comprises four Departments of Literature and a graduate school. This all-female institution is well-known as Shirayuri Women's University, although its official name is Shirayuri College. It is a research and liberal...

 she started publishing fiction. At the age of 24, she published her first collection of stories, Carnival (Shaniku-sai). Now a prolific writer, she is the winner of several literary prizes.

In 1972 her story "Pregnant With A Fox" ("Kitsune wo haramu") was one of the runners-up for the Akutagawa Prize

Akutagawa Prize

The is a Japanese literary award presented semi-annually. It was established in 1935 by Kan Kikuchi, then-editor of Bungeishunjū magazine, in memory of author Ryūnosuke Akutagawa...

. She was awarded the first annual Noma Prize for New Writers in 1979. In 1983 she was awarded the Kawabata Prize for the short story "The Silent Traders" ("Danmari ichi"). In 1998 she was awarded the 34th Tanizaki Prize

Tanizaki Prize

The Tanizaki Prize , named in honor of the Japanese novelist Jun'ichirō Tanizaki, is one of Japan's most sought-after literary awards. It was established in 1965 by the publishing company Chūō Kōronsha Inc. to commemorate its 80th anniversary as a publisher...

 and the 51st Noma Prize

Noma Prize

The Noma Prizes were established by Shoichi Noma, or in his honor. More than one award is conventionally identified as the Noma Prize.Noma was the former head of Kodansha, the Japanese publishing and bookselling company...

for her novel Mountain of Fire: Account Of A Wild Monkey (Hi no yama – yamazaruki).

Works translated into English

• Child Of Fortune (寵児, Chōji, 1978)
• Woman Running In The Mountains (山を走る女, Yama wo hashiru onna, 1980)
• The Shooting Gallery & Other Stories (selected stories, 1973–1984)