Ito Ogawa

Ito Ogawa is a Japanese writer, screenwriter, and translator.

She was born in 1973 in the city of Yamagata, the capital of the prefecture of the same name in the north of the country.

Her debut novel, The Restaurant of Love Regained (2008), became incredibly popular in Japan and also received international recognition. The book was translated into several languages, including English, French, Italian, and Spanish, and received two awards: the Bancarella Prize in Italy (2011) and the Eugénie Brazier Prize in France (2013). In addition, the novel was adapted for the screen in 2010. The film was released under the title Shokudo Katatsumuri (“Rinko’s Restaurant”). Incidentally, the main character of the work is just as fond of cooking as Ito herself: on her website, the writer gladly shares recipes for Japanese dishes with readers.

The story of Tsubaki Stationery Store takes place in Kamakura, one of Japan’s oldest cities on the island of Honshu, founded in 1192. The writer pondered where she would like to set a bookstore. The ideal would be a combination of mountains, the sea, and remarkable pristine nature. Kamakura combines exactly these features; it is a place where one would want to live. In 2017, a sequel to the book, The Republic of Happiness, was published in Japan. Like the first part, the sequel was included on the shortlist of nominees for the Japanese Booksellers Award (2018).

In addition to books for adults, Ito also writes stories for children as well as song lyrics.