An Unnecessary Man | Maha Harada | Granta

An Unnecessary Man

Maha Harada

Translated by Louise Heal Kawai

‘I’d lived for half a century, but I had no sense of what that meant; no particular reaction.’

Maha Harada

Maha Harada was born in Tokyo in 1962. After working at the Itochu Corporation as an art consultant, she held positions in the project office for the Mori Art Museum as a curator, and was dispatched as a researcher to the Museum of Modern Art in New York. In 2005, Harada received the First Japanese Love Story Award for her novel Waiting for Good News (Takarajimasha). In 2012, her book Canvas of Paradise (Shinchosha) won the Yamamoto Shugoro Award, and in 2017, her novel Leach Sensei (Shueisha) received the Nitta Jiro Award.  Her other works include Today Is a Good DayThe Name Above the Title, A Table at GivernyUnder the Sun and StarsYou Are the One Loved SomeoneTossed but Never Sink and Permanent Collection.

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Translated by Louise Heal Kawai

Louise Heal Kawai was born in Manchester, England, and resides in Yokohama, Japan. She is the translator of Ms Ice Sandwich by Kawakami Mieko, The Honjin Murders by Yokomizo Seishi, and many novels, short stories and poetry by a variety of Japanese authors. Her translation of Yokoyama Hideo’s Seventeen was longlisted for the 2019 Best Translated Book Award. She is currently working on a theatre translation project with the New National Theatre, Tokyo and Royal Court Theatre, London.

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