Katie Kitamura


Katie Kitamura is an American novelist, journalist, and art critic. She is currently an Honorary Research Fellow at the London Consortium.

Early life and education

Katie Kitamura was born in California in 1979 to a family of Japanese origin, and raised in California.
Kitamura graduated from Princeton University in New Jersey in 1999. She earned a PhD in American literature from the London Consortium. Her thesis was titled The Aesthetics of Vulgarity and the Modern American Novel.
Earlier in her life, Kitamura trained as a ballerina.

Career

Non-fiction

Kitamura wrote Japanese for Travellers – A Journey, describing her travels across Japan and examining the dichotomies of its society and her own place in it as a Japanese-American.

Fiction

Kitamura was introduced to mixed martial arts in Japan by her brother. Her first novel, The Longshot, published in 2009, is about the preparation undertaken by a fighter and his trainer ahead of a championship bout against a famous opponent. The cover art of the US edition of her book features the title tattooed on knuckles; the knuckles are her brother's. Kitamura's second novel, Gone to the Forest, published in 2013, is set in an unnamed colonial country and describes the life and suffering of a landowning family against a backdrop of civil strife and political change.

Film adaptation

Kitamura's novel A Separation will be adapted for a film starring Katherine Waterston.

Journalism

Kitamura writes for The Guardian, The New York Times, and Wired. She has written articles on mixed martial arts, film criticism and analysis, and art.

Awards and recognition

In 2010, Kitamura's The Longshot was shortlisted for the New York Public Library's Young Lions Fiction Award.

Selected bibliography

Books

Kitamura is married to author Hari Kunzru.