Ryunosuke Akutagawa

Ryunosuke Akutagawa was a Japanese writer active in the Taishō period, and he is regarded as the father of the Japanese short story. His books include The Essential Akutagawa, a selection of twenty-two stories, and The Life of a Stupid Man, a memoir. Japan's premier literary award, the Akutagawa Prize, is named after him. He took his own life in 1927 at the age of 35.