Mieko Kawakami is a Japanese singer and writer from Osaka. Her work has won prestigious Japanese literary awards in several genres, including the 138th Akutagawa Prize for her novella Chichi to ran (乳と卵), the 2013 Tanizaki Prize for her short story collection Ai no yume to ka (愛の夢とか), and the 2008 Nakahara Chūya Prize for Contemporary Poetry for Sentan de, sasuwa sasareruwa soraeewa. Haruki Murakami has called Kawakami his favorite young novelist.