Writers' Trust of Canada
Donate

Tamai

Kobayashi

Born in Japan, raised in Canada, Tamai Kobayashi is a writer and screenwriter. She is the author of Exile and the Heart and Quixotic Erotic. Her vivid, electric prose has garnered considerable critical acclaim. Her first novel, Prairie Ostrich, published by Goose Lane Editions in March 2014, is the story of coming out and coming of age in a sleepy rural town. Tamai lives in Toronto.

Tamai Kobayashi

Writers & Books

Award History

2014 - Winner

Dayne Ogilvie Prize for LGBTQ2S+ Emerging Writers

Jury Citation

“Tamai Kobayashi’s writing is poetic, funny, and compassionate. With innovative and electric language, she creates thought-provoking narrative with heart, humour, and remarkable insight. In Prairie Ostrich, she has drawn a compelling young character, Egg Murakami, who guides us through the fault lines and intersections of family, loss, and otherness. This novel is for anyone who has spent time on the outside, looking in.” -- 2014 Dayne Ogilvie Prize for LGBTQ Emerging Writers Jury (Anna Camilleri, Connie Fife, and Bill Whitehead)

Works Recognized by WT