"What is the Akutagawa Prize?"

Although Uncle Ishida was very excited, Sakamoto Kiyoshi's cold reaction was like a bucket of ice water poured down from his head.

It's so sour, I can't believe it.

Excited uncle, only then did I know that Kiyoshi Sakamoto, a rookie writer, had no idea what the "Akutagawa Award" was, and he didn't know the gold content and importance of this award in the literary world.

The uncle who was hit by Sakamoto Kiyoshi's reaction had no choice but to give this chief student of Tokyo University, popularize science, and the Akutagawa Award.

The Akutagawa Prize, the full name of which is the Akutagawa Ryunosuke Prize.

It is a literary award proposed by Kikuchi Kan in 1935 to commemorate Ryunosuke Akutagawa, a writer of the Taisho era in Japan, and is awarded by the organizer Japan Literature Promotion Association to new writers of pure literature.

Since 1935, the selection event has been held twice a year.

It is divided into the first half of the year, and the first half of the year (works published before December 1 ~ May 31) will be selected in mid-July, and awards will be presented in mid-August, and will be published in the September issue of "Literature and Art Spring and Autumn".

In the second half of the year (works published before June 1st ~ November 30th), the selection is held in mid-January of the following year, and the awards are presented in mid-February of the same year, and are published in the March issue of "Literature and Art Spring and Autumn".

As Japan's three major literary awards, the Akutagawa Prize and the Naoki Prize are awards that all writers want to win.

Among them, the Akutagawa Prize is the representative award of the Pure Literature Award, while the Naoki Prize is the representative award of popular literature, the Akutagawa Prize aims to encourage new writers, and the Naoki Award is an honor for popular literature writers who have already published books.

This is also one of the reasons why Kiyoshi Sakamoto's "Golden Dreamland" was shortlisted for the Akutagawa Award in the first half of 2006.

Because, Kiyoshi Sakamoto, whose pen name is "Qing Xian", is undoubtedly a newcomer writer who can't be new.

Moreover, as the first part, Sakamoto Kiyoshi who came to the Literary Spring and Autumn Publishing House, Literary Spring and Autumn is also natural, and he has a sense of closeness to this newcomer writer who doesn't know his gender and age.

Therefore, this is one of the reasons why Kiyoshi Sakamoto's "Golden Dreamland" was shortlisted for the Akutagawa Award in the first half of the year.

After all, the organizer of the Akutagawa Prize is the Japan Literature Promotion Association, which is within the Bungei Spring and Autumn Publishing House.

The Spring and Autumn Publishing House and the Japan Literature Promotion Association, the two are like twins, almost inseparable from each other, after all, both were founded by Kikuchi Hiroshi.

In fact, Kiyoshi Sakamoto's book was published on the June 1st of the June issue of "Literary Spring and Autumn".

However, the selection period for the first half of the Akutagawa Award is between December 1st ~ May 31st, which means that Kiyoshi Sakamoto's "Golden Dreamland" was not originally counted as a work published in the first half of the year, so there is no Akutagawa Award shortlisted for the first half of the year.

Even if it is to be shortlisted, it will be shortlisted for the Akutagawa Award in the second half of the year.

But the fun is the fun here.

Sakamoto Kiyoshi put this part in the Akutagawa Award shortlist in the first half of the year, and it was recommended by the editor-in-chief of the Literary Spring and Autumn Publishing House, as well as all the editors of the Reasoning Department.

As a book that is different from Keigo Higashino, it often makes people have a chill coming out of the spine, and the malice of the characters in the work often makes people shudder in the style, after the hand of Sakamoto Kiyoshi's "Golden Dreamland", or retains the original author Kotaro Isaka, even among the tens of thousands of malicious killings, there is a warm light that pierces the darkness, making people feel that there is always a warm style of hope.

This is also an excellent work in recent years, which has made the reasoning editors of Literature and Art Spring and Autumn feel relieved.

Moreover, the writer who wrote such a work turned out to be a newcomer who had never heard a name.

This makes the editors of the reasoning department have a love for talent in their hearts, and they are eager to let more people see that this is such an excellent reasoning.

Therefore, under the strong recommendation of the editors of the reasoning department and the clapping of the editor-in-chief, Kiyoshi Sakamoto's "Golden Dreamland" was included in the selection list for the Akutagawa Award in the first half of the year.

However, the reasoning editors who were buried with such an excellent work never thought that "Golden Dreamland" would smoothly enter the final award shortlist when it was selected.

Although I know that the writing and content of this work are all excellent, but for the first work of a new writer, it was shortlisted for the Akutagawa Award, which still surprised the literary Spring and Autumn editors who recommended "Golden Dreamland".

Although the publishing house is a literary spring and autumn, the selection method of the Akutagawa Award has little to do with them.

The selection of the Akutagawa Prize is not an open call for applicants, but rather an agreement of the selection committee to determine the candidates and winners.

These selection committees select a group of candidates from among the purely literary short works published by newspapers and magazines, new writers or unknown writers, and then select the best work from among them to be praised.

Today's selection committee members are famous writers such as Natsuki Ikezawa, Taeko Kono, and Chiji Kuroi.

All of them are famous people, and they have nothing to do with the Literature and Art Spring and Autumn Publishing House, which is also the Japan Literature Promotion Association, for the sake of fairness and justice in the selection, will choose these writers of the older generation as selection committees.

After all, the old man has reached this stage, and the most important thing is his own face, and it is unlikely that he will engage in some of the things that he has and don't, to stink his reputation...

After learning from Uncle Ishida's mouth that the Akutagawa Prize is an award and its status in the literary world, Kiyoshi Sakamoto felt that he might really be able to realize that, "copy, so that Fumiharu does not report himself" plan!

His plan, from the very beginning, was to find an opportunity to announce his identity as a writer after publication, so as to let the public know that he was the "idle" who wrote "Golden Dreamland".

Of course, the important thing is to let Wenyi Chunqiu know that he, the little king of Sony, is the writer "leisurely".

In this case, in order not to annoy the hidden writers' union, Wenyi Chunqiu will definitely turn a blind eye to Kiyoshi Sakamoto, who has become a member of the writers!

This was Kiyoshi Sakamoto's original plan.

However, after learning that his work was shortlisted for the Akutagawa Prize, one of the two major awards in the Japanese literary world, Sakamoto Kiyoshi had a new idea for this project.

"If, I mean, my work ends up winning this award, then... Kiyoshi Sakamoto asked the uncle.

"Then you will definitely become a new generation of cutting-edge writers in Japan, and in that case, Bunharu will definitely take good care of you. After all, many of the Akutagawa Prize winners will go on to become great Japanese writers. ”

And Uncle Ishida, who knew Sakamoto Kiyoshi's plan, also directly said what Sakamoto Kiyoshi wanted to know.

From the uncle's "take good care", Sakamoto Kiyoshi knew that if he could really get this award, and then disclose his identity, in that case, the purpose of this plan would definitely be better than the effect caused by the original plan.

In other words, Kiyoshi Sakamoto will definitely be included in the list of not reported by Wenchun.

Even if you can't win the award, as long as you announce your identity in front of the public, it can achieve the effect that Kiyoshi Sakamoto is pursuing, but it is not as sensational as announcing your identity after winning the award.

Suddenly, Kiyoshi Sakamoto looked away from the magazine, looked at the uncle's face, and asked.

"And when will the winner of the Akutagawa Award be chosen?"

"Well, it says, it looks like the winners will be announced in mid-August, and then the conference will be held and the award ceremony will be held. ”

The uncle, who had read the magazine beforehand, also recalled it a little and replied.

"Is there a month left in the middle of August? ”

Thinking that there is still a month, he can know whether the seeds he planted two months ago can germinate, and Sakamoto Kiyoshi can't help but feel a little nervous and apprehensive in his heart at this time.

"It would be nice if I could win an award... At this time, the uncle seemed to be talking to himself next to him, so that Sakamoto Kiyoshi also said a word.

"Well, if you can win an award, it would be good... ”

。。。。。。

In the following month, Kiyoshi Sakamoto did not sit idle because the serialization had been completed.

As exam week approached, he also paid some attention to revision.

Although,Don't review,,You can pass the test casually.。。。

At the same time, on the first floor of the famous ryotei "Shinkiraku" in Tokyo, members of the Akutagawa Prize Censors are discussing the winning works of the 135th Akutagawa Prize.

"I think the content of this work is very heartwarming, and in terms of writing, it also allows readers to have an immersive feeling, and the core of the story is also the type of feelings that the public likes to see, and I think it is very in line with our selection criteria for this award. An old man with a long head of white hair, sitting on the top seat of the round table, spoke his opinion in a slightly deep voice.

And after the old man finished speaking, another old man with a short hairstyle and a gray beard also echoed.

"I agree with Chairman Kuroi's statement, and besides, this writer is still a newcomer, and this work is his debut novel. That's a lot of money. ”

"After all, in the past few years, the winners of the Akutagawa Prize have all been writers who have already made a name for themselves, and few of them are newcomers or unknown writers. In this way, it is a great irony for the Akutagawa Prize, which aims to praise and excavate newcomers!"

At this time, the review meeting, presiding over the meeting, was the white-haired old man who spoke just now, Kuroi Chiji.

Chiji Kuroi, a famous writer who just took over as the chairman of the Japan Writers and Artists Association this year, liked it very much when he saw "Golden Dreamland" at first glance.

Therefore, he also strongly recommended this book to all the members of the review committee at the review meeting.

And another old man who echoed it was also a famous writer with a lot of background, as famous as Haruki Murakami, Natsuki Ikezawa.

With the support of such two highly respected people, there is almost no suspense about the award of Kiyoshi Sakamoto's "Golden Dreamland".