Arata TendO
Illustration: Ohara Hale
Itamu Hito (The Mourner): Naoki Prize 2008
Arata Tendō was born in 1960 in Ehime Prefecture, Japan. He made his literary debut under his real name, Noriyuki Kurita, winning the Yasei Jidai Literary Award for New Writers in 1986 with his first ever novel, Shiro no kazoku (The White Family). He wrote screenplays for television and film before delving into mystery and thriller novels under the pen name he uses today. He most recently won the Naoki Prize in 2008 for his novel Itamu hito (The Mourner).