Machi Tawara

Machi Tawara (俵 万智) was born in 1962. She is a Japanese poet, writer and translator. She translated, among other works, „Man’yōshū” and „Taketori Monogatari”, from classic to contemporary Japanese. Thanks to her, classical tanka peoms can spark an interest in a new generation of readers. Tawara started writing them inspired by her collaboration with Sasaki Yukitsuna.

Her collection of poetry „Salad Anniversary” published in 1987 that can also be found at Tajfuny, became a bestseller. Not only did it sell in 2,5 million copies but also made Tawara a celebrity, starting a trend known as the “salad phenomenon”. It was exactly „Salad Anniversary” for which Tawara received Modern Japanese Poets Association Award and thus solified her status of a contemporary Japanese literature icon.