Amy Yamada

In 1996, "Trash" was published in English translation by Kodansha International (translator: Sonya L. Johnson). In May 2006, three of Yamada's novellas (Bedtime Eyes 「ベッドタイム･アイズ」, The Piano Player's Fingers 「指の戯れ」 and Jesse 「ジェシーの背骨」) were published in English translation (translators: Yumi Gunji and Marc Jardine) as a single volume by St Martin's Press under the collective title Bedtime Eyes.

She began writing novels in 1980. Though her works garnered some attention, even receiving praise from Japanese literary critic Jun Eto (江藤淳 , Eto Jun) , she only achieved widespread recognition in 1985, when Bedtime Eyes won the Bungei Prize and was nominated for the Akutagawa Prize. In writing Bedtime Eyes, Yamada drew upon her experiences with black people and black culture and combined them with the Japanese literary tradition.

After graduating from high school in 1977, she entered Meiji University's Literature Department, but dropped out before graduating. Yamada had a short stint writing and drawing manga under her real name (Yamada Futaba). Her manga debuted in Manga Erogenica and she was featured as a dōjin (fanfic) and female erotic manga artist. While working part-time, she published Sugar Bar (Shugā Bā 1981), Miss Doll (Misu Dōru 1986), and Yokosuka Freaky (Yokosuka Furīkī 1986).

Yamada Amy (山田 詠美 , Yamada Eimi) born February 8, 1959, is a popular but controversial contemporary Japanese writer who is most famous for her stories that address issues of sexuality, racism, and interracial love and marriage. Her debut and subsequent popular success in the 1990s was a part of Japan's hip-hop and Black culture boom. While she is most known for her stories of complicated and messy romantic love, she also writes on the daily minutiae of life (slice-of-life), child-raising, and bullying.