Lee Yangji

Yangji Lee was a Japanese-Korean novelist. She won the Akutagawa Prize for her work Yuhi, becoming the second Zainichi Korean to win the prize.

Biography

Lee was born in Nishikatsura, Yamanashi, Japan. She was a second generation Japanese-Korean. When she was in grade school, her parents acquired Japanese citizenship and her nationality became Japanese at that time. Upon naturalization, she adopted the name Tanaka Yoshie.
In 1982, while studying at Seoul National University, Lee published her work Nabi Taryong in the literary magazine Gunzou and her career as a writer began. In 1988, her work Yuhi won the 100th Akutagawa Prize, making her the second Zainichi Korean to receive the prize. While writing the novel Ishi no Koe, she contracted acute myocarditis and soon died.