Kobo Abe was born in Tokyo in 1924, grew up in Manchuria, and returned to Japan in his early twenties. Before his death in 1993, Abe was considered his country's foremost living novelist. His novels have earned many literary awards and prizes, and have all been bestsellers in Japan. They include THE WOMAN IN THE DUNES, THE ARK SAKURA, THE FACE OF ANOTHER, THE BOX MAN, and THE RUINED MAP.
Kaori Nagai graduated from the University of Tokyo and obtained a doctorate in Postcolonial Studies from the University of Kent, UK, where she currently teaches. She is the author of Empire of Analogies: Kipling, India and Ireland (forthcoming: Cork University Press).