Yangji Lee

Who was Yangji Lee?

Yangji Lee was a second-generation Zainichi Korean Japanese novelist born in Nishikatsura, Yamanashi, Japan. When she was in grade school, her parents acquired Japanese citizenship, and her nationality became Japanese at that time.

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.