Author: Chiyo Uno

Chiyo Uno (1897-1996) was a celebrated Japanese writer who was best known for turning her eventful life into prize-winning, acclaimed novels. She was raised in Iwakuni, a small castle town on the Inland Sea near Hiroshima. She left home young and worked a variety of jobs, from teaching to waiting tables to founding a fashion magazine. On a whim, she submitted a story to a newspaper writing competition in 1921, and she received the top prize. She began writing novels which drew on her personal experience, scandalising her contemporaries with stories of women who forged their own path and had extra-marital affairs. Uno became a beloved author in Japan, with her memoir eventually being adapted into a popular TV drama.