Rie Qudan

Rie Qudan (born September 27, 1990, in Saitama, Japan) is a Japanese novelist. In 2024, Qudan won the 170th Akutagawa Prize for her novel Tōkyō-to Dōjō Tō ("Tokyo Sympathy Tower"). She stated that about 5% of the novel was written by artificial intelligence.

After winning the Akutagawa Prize, she wrote in an email exchange that her preferred transliteration for her name is "Rie Qudan".

Early life and education
Qudan was born on September 27, 1990, in Urawa (now Saitama) in Saitama Prefecture, Japan.

She won her first writing award for an essay she wrote during sixth grade in elementary school.

Career
Qudan worked as a laboratory assistant after graduation from university.

In 2021, Qudan won the 126th Literary World Newcomer Award with her debut novel, Warui Ongaku ("Bad music").

Her 2024 novel Tōkyō-to Dōjō Tō ("Tokyo sympathy tower") is a science fiction story about an architect who designs a tower to be built in Tokyo's Shinjuku Gyo-en garden and used as a prison to rehabilitate criminals comfortably. Set in a version of Tokyo in the near future where Zaha Hadid's version of the National Stadium for the Tokyo Olympics was built, the story is told from the perspective of the architect and her would-be biographer. The novel contains themes concerning artificial intelligence.

Tōkyō-to Dōjō Tō won Qudan the 170th Akutagawa Prize, one of Japan's most prestigious literary awards for new authors. During a press conference, Qudan mentioned that she used ChatGPT, a chatbot based on generative artificial intelligence, to write about 5% of her novel. She later clarified that AI was only used to write the AI’s dialogue in the novel.

Personal life
Qudan lives in Chiba Prefecture.