Imamura was born in
Hiroshima,
Japan in 1980, and later moved to
Osaka to attend university.[1]
She wrote her first story, a novella originally titled Atarashii musume (あたらしい娘, New Girl), while working a temporary job.[2]Atarashii musume won the 26th
Dazai Osamu Prize in 2010, and was published with her short story "Pikunikku" ("Picnic") in one volume under the new title Kochira Amiko (こちらあみ子, Amiko Here), which then won the 24th
Mishima Yukio Prize.[3]
In 2017, Imamura received the 5th Kawai Hayao Story Prize for her 2016 book Ahiru (あひる).[4]Ahiru was also nominated for the 155th
Akutagawa Prize, but the prize went to
Sayaka Murata.[5][6] That same year Imamura won the 39th
Noma Literary New Face Prize for Hoshi no ko (星の子, Child of the Stars), a book about a junior high school girl in a family that becomes increasingly involved in a
new religious movement, a societal subject dubbed as "
shūkyō nisei".[7][8]Hoshi no ko was also nominated for the 156th
Akutagawa Prize, but the prize went to first-time writer Shinsuke Numata.[9][10]
In 2019, Imamura received her third Akutagawa Prize nomination, for her novel Murasaki no sukaato no onna (むらさきのスカートの女, The Woman in the Purple Skirt).[11] The book, a first-person account of a woman watching her neighbor, won the 161st Akutagawa Prize.[12]
Imamura lives in
Osaka with her husband and daughter.[1]
^Tsukada, Hotaka (2022-03-31).
"小説・映画「星の子」が描く宗教・家族・学校" [Religion, family, and school as represented by the novel and film Hoshi no Ko(Child of the Stars, Under the Stars)]. Joetsu University of Education Research Bulletin. 41 (2): 393–406. Retrieved October 8, 2022.