Nahoko Uehashi (上橋 菜穂子, Uehashi Nahoko) (born July 15, 1962 in
Tokyo, Japan) is a Japanese writer, primarily of fantasy books, for which she has won many awards.
Uehashi's career as a writer started in 1989. Her first book was The Sacred Tree (精霊の木, seirei no ki). She then wrote the novel O God, Sleep Ye in The Forest of Moon (月の森にカミよ眠れ, tsuki no mori ni kami yo nemure). This novel received an award from the Japanese Association of Writers for Children,[2] which made her one of the famous Japanese-fantasy authors.
In 1996, she published the first book of her Moribito series, Guardian of the Spirit (精霊の守り人, Seirei no Moribito). The novel received the Noma Children's Literature New Face Prize[3] and the Sankei Children's Culture and Publishing award[4] and the English translation was awarded the
Mildred L. Batchelder Award in 2009.[5] In 1999, Uehashi published the second book of the Moribito series, Guardian of the Darkness (闇の守り人, Yami no Moribito). With this novel she received the Japanese Association of Writers for Children's award.[2] In 2002 The
Guardian series won the Iwaya Sazanami literature award,[6] and in 2003, Guardian of the God (神の守り人, Kami no Moribito) won another Japanese award from the Shogakukan publishing company.[7] Then, in 2003, Uehashi wrote the novel Beyond the Fox Whistle (狐笛のかなた, Koteki no Kanata), which received a Noma Children's Literature award.[8] In 2006 she wrote the two volume The Beast Player (獣の奏者, Kemono no Sōja), which she complemented with two more volumes in 2009.
For her "lasting contribution" as a children's writer, Uehashi won the biennial, international
Hans Christian Andersen Award in 2014.[15]
Announced late in March, it will be presented on 10 September at the annual conference of the
International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY) in Mexico City.[15]
According to the IBBY jury chaired by María Jesús Gil of Spain, "Uehashi tells stories that are replete with imagination, culture and the beauty of a sophisticated process and form. Her literary subjects are based on ancient Japanese mythology and science-fiction fantasy that are deeply rooted in human reality."[15]
She has been called "a highly popular fantasy writer for young adults" in Japan.[16]
In the far future, when the earth was completely polluted and people could no longer live on it, human beings spread out onto other planets. For the Planet Nira, where Shin Yamano lives, it's the 200th anniversary since humans first settled on it. But something is wrong. Shin's cousin Licia suddenly awakens to the ESP-like ability of the Roshnars, an aboriginal tribe of Nira that was said to have been extinct ages ago....
O God, Sleep Ye in the Forest of Moon (月の森にカミよ眠れ, Tsuki no Mori ni Kami yo Nemure), 1991[18]
Torn between the love of the god of the Moon Forest and the need of her tribe to kill the very same god, the young oracle girl Kishime is distressed. Her tribe talks of killing the god and felling the sacred forest for rich harvest. But should she listen to the urgent needs of her tribe, or should she fulfill her duty as the oracle of the god of the forest?
Beyond the Fox Whistle (狐笛のかなた, Koteki no Kanata), 2003[19][22]
The young girl, Sayo has inherited the ability of "hearing" people's minds from her mother. In her childhood, she had once saved a fox cub from some hunter's hounds. But that fox was a werefox that lives between the world of the gods and this world, owned by human, sent to kill a lord. Despite her will, Sayo is dragged into the ugly fight between two countries...
Ethnology
The Backyard Aborigines (隣のアボリジニ, Tonari no Aborijini), 2000[23]
Uehashi's only book as an ethnologist. About Aborigines who live in town with the white-skinned Australians. When you first look at them, these people seem to have no difference from the white Australians, but something is different....