Shizu ShirakithumbShizu Shiraki was a Japanese author.Early life and careerShiraki contracted tuberculosis after middle school and had her leg amputated at age 17. After this, she took fiction writing lessons from Morita Sōhei, started writing, and wrote throughout the six years until her death.StyleAccording to scholar Barbara Hartley, Shiraki's willingness to write about body-related issues, such as menstruation, "marks her as singularly incisive and even subversive."