Michiko Kakutani (角谷 美智子, Kakutani Michiko, born January 9, 1955) is an American Pulitzer Prize-winning critic for The New York Times and is considered by many to be a leading literary critic in the United States.
Kakutani, a Japanese American, was born in New Haven, Connecticut, the only child of noted Yale mathematician Shizuo Kakutani. She received her B.A. in English literature from Yale University in 1976, where she studied under noted autho...
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Michiko Kakutani (角谷 美智子, Kakutani Michiko, born January 9, 1955) is an American Pulitzer Prize-winning critic for The New York Times and is considered by many to be a leading literary critic in the United States.
Kakutani, a Japanese American, was born in New Haven, Connecticut, the only child of noted Yale mathematician Shizuo Kakutani. She received her B.A. in English literature from Yale University in 1976, where she studied under noted author and Yale writing professor John Hersey, among others. After graduation she initially worked as a reporter for The Washington Post, and then from 1977 to 1979 for Time magazine, where Hersey himself had worked. In 1979, she joined The New York Times as a reporter.
Kakutani has been a highly influential literary critic for The New York Times since 1983. She is best known for her book reviews. Her harsh critiques of some prominent authors have garnered both attention and, on occasion, criticism. She has been known to write reviews in the voice...
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