Yoshimoto Banana

(1964- ). Novelist. Real name Yoshimoto Mahoko. Born in Tokyo; daughter of the poet and critic Yoshimoto Taka'aki. Graduate of Nihon University. In a detached tone Yoshimoto portrays the lives of people in desperately isolated situations. Kitchin (1987; tr Kitchen), a novella about a girl able to sleep only in the kitchen, received the Izumi Kyōka Literary prize. (from Wikipedia)