Mai Ishizawa (1980–) is a Japanese novelist whose work explores memory, loss, history, and encounters between cultures, drawing in part on her experience of living in Germany. In 2021, she won the 165th Akutagawa Prize for "Kai ni Tsuzuku Basho nite" ("The Place Beyond the Shells"). Interweaving memories of the Great East Japan Earthquake with the landscape of Göttingen, Germany, the novel reflects on how personal and historical memories endure across places and generations.
