[Tokyu Bunkamura Co., Ltd.] Selection by Natsuo Kirino [Winning work announced] 34th (2024) Bunkamura Dumago Literary Award “Iraq Suikoden” by Hideyuki Takano
*Tokyu Bunkamura Co., Ltd.*
Press release: September 3, 2024
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Selected by Natsuo Kirino [Winning work announced] 34th (2024) Bunkamura Dumago Literary Award “Iraqi Water Margin” by Hideyuki Takano
*Bunkamura Doumago Literary Award, where the winning works are determined by a single selection committee that changes every year. The 34th award-winning work in 2024 was Hideyuki Takano’s “Iraq Suikoden,” selected by Natsuo Kirino. *
Since its establishment in 1990, the *Bunkamura Dumago Literary Award*, sponsored by Tokyu Bunkamura Co., Ltd., has had a selection committee that changes every year.*
The award-winning works were determined based on the following criteria. The person who was in charge of the 34th selection in 2024 was *Natsuo Kirino*, and the winning work was *
Hideyuki Takano’s “Iraq Suikoden”*.
Mr. Kirino’s selection and reviews are posted on our homepage.
▼Click here for selection review
https://www.bunkamura.co.jp/bungaku/winners/34.html
Name * 34th Bunkamura Dumago Literary Award *
Award-winning work * “Iraq Suikoden” * (July 2023, published by Bungeishunju) Award Winner * Mr. Hideyuki Takano*
Selection committee member * Mr. Natsuo Kirino*
Award Main prize: Certificate Swiss Zenith watch
Supplementary prize: 1 million yen
Sponsored by Tokyu Bunkamura Co., Ltd.
https://www.bunkamura.co.jp/bungaku/winners/34.html
* [Awardee Profile] *
*Hideyuki Takano*
Nonfiction writer. Born in Tokyo in 1966. His policy is “Go where no one else has gone, do what no one else has done, and write the books no one else has written.” Debuted with “Chasing the Mysterious Beast Mbembe”. He won the Shudoku Bookseller Award for “Waseda Sanjo Seishunki” and the Kodansha Nonfiction Award for “The Mysterious Independent Nation of Somaliland.” In 2024, his journey in “Iraq Suikoden” was highly acclaimed, and he and Takashi Yamada won the Naoki Uemura Adventure Award. His other books include “Border Food” and “Chasing the Fantastic African Natto!” ” and “100 Million Light Years to a Language Genius.”
* [Selection committee profile] *
(C) Wakaba Noda (TRON)
* Natsuo Kirino (Natsuo Kirino) *
In 1998, he received the Japan Mystery Writers Association Award for “OUT”, in 1999 he received the Naoki Award for “Soft Cheeks”, in 2003 he received the Izumi Kyoka Literary Award for “Grotesque”, in 2004 he received the Shibata Renzaburo Award for “Atrocities”, and in 2005 he received “Tamamoe! ”, the Junichiro Tanizaki Prize for “Tokyo Island” in 2008, the Murasaki Shikibu Literary Award for “Megamiki” in 2009, the Shimakiyo Romance Literature Award for “Nani-ka-aru” in 2010, and the Yomiuri Literary Award for
“Nani-ka-aru” in 2011. , won the Waseda University Tsubouchi Shoyo Grand Prize in 2011, and the Mainichi Art Award and the Eiji Yoshikawa Literary Award for “The Swallow Will Not Come Back” in 2013. Received the Japan Art Academy Award in 2014. He has served as the president of the Japan Pen Club since 2021.
Literary Award Homepage
* [Contents of award-winning work] *
Ahuwar, a huge wetland in Iraq, is located close to the birthplace of Mesopotamian civilization, the world’s oldest civilization, and is surrounded by the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, and was registered as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2016. Horses, camels, and chariots could not be used, huge armies could not enter, there were no boundaries, and the land was a maze of waterways, making it truly the “last chaos of modern times.”
Over the course of six years of research and writing, and three trips to Japan, I met many fascinating people, and the rich lifestyles, food, handicrafts, religion, ecology, etc. that are rooted there. This is an unprecedented nonfiction masterpiece that condenses the behind-the-scenes aspects of the Middle East situation and first-class ethnographic records that can only be revealed by visiting the site.
Living in a wetland by traveling by boat and living with water buffalo (C) Hideyuki Takano
Mysterious Marsh Arab cloth (Azar) (C) Hideyuki Takano
Map of Akhwar Wetlands and Hussein Waterway, illustrated by Takashi Yamada
* [What is the Bunkamura Dumago Literary Award] *
Established in 1990, inheriting the unique spirit of the Prix de Doumago in Paris. I would like to explore the possibilities of new literature that is innovative and original, without falling into authoritarianism or being bound by established concepts. The award-winning works are selected by a single selection committee member who rotates every year, and the selection committee member’s term of office is one year.
The next selection committee member for the 35th (2025) is Mr. Hazuki Saiso.