Kiyoharu Suzuki

Born 1925 in Inakadate, Aomori. Following graduation from Aomori Normal School in 1945, Suzuki began his teaching career at Kuroishi Elementary School. He practiced educational guidance rooted in post-war democratic education and seikatsu tsuzurikata (life-writing education). In 1952, a collection of essays titled Children of the Honeybees, written by his fourth-grade students, won the grand prize at the All-Japan Elementary and Junior High School Essay Collection Contest, with the compiled life-record volume of the same title published later that year (Toyoshokan). Suzuki relocated in 1954 and subsequently taught at elementary and junior high schools in Chiba Prefecture. He wrote extensively in the field of children’s literature during his teaching tenure. He authored Children of the North Wind (Rironsha, 1962), The Old Woman of Lake Jūsan (Kaiseisha, 1974), and Child of the Famine (Kokudosha, 2005), among many others, winning the 12th Japan Association of Writers for Children Award in 1988 for Mountain Song Tales of Tsugaru. Over his career, he served as a member of the Japan Association of Writers for Children, president of the Japan Society for Children’s Books, and honorary member of the Aomori Children’s Literature Research Association. He passed away in 2016.