The character arc of Kazuo Ishiguro

A life drawn by Character Arc from the public record

Born on 8 November 1954 in Nagasaki. Between then and now sit a Kent degree in 1978, an East Anglia master's in 1980, a first novel in 1982, An Artist of the Floating World in 1986, The Remains of the Day and the Booker Prize in 1989, Never Let Me Go in 2005, The Buried Giant in 2015, the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2017 and Klara and the Sun in 2021. The line below draws the story so far, in order.

Tap the line to pluck it. Hover or tap any mark for its card. Drawn from the public record of his life; the sources are at the foot of the page.

Who is Kazuo Ishiguro?

Eight novels, and no two alike.

He was born in Nagasaki in 1954 and brought up in England. He took a degree in English and philosophy at the University of Kent at Canterbury in 1978 and a master's in creative writing at the University of East Anglia in 1980, at a time when a creative writing degree was an unusual and slightly suspect thing to hold.

A Pale View of Hills came in 1982 and An Artist of the Floating World in 1986. The Remains of the Day, in 1989, won the Booker Prize when he was thirty four. It is narrated by an English butler who cannot say what he means, and it established the thing his work is really about: a person telling you their life while carefully avoiding the part that matters.

What is unusual is what he did afterwards. The Unconsoled in 1995 is nothing like the book that won him the Booker. Never Let Me Go in 2005 is science fiction if you squint at it and a boarding school novel if you do not. The Buried Giant in 2015 has ogres in it. Klara and the Sun in 2021 is narrated by a machine. Eight novels in forty years, each in a different register, from a writer who could have written The Remains of the Day again five times. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2017.

The moments

Kazuo Ishiguro's timeline.

The 1970s

Jun 1978

English and philosophy

Milestone, and it changed his direction. A degree in Canterbury, a long way from Nagasaki.

The 1980s

Jun 1980

Creative writing at UEA

Milestone, and it changed everything. A creative writing degree in 1980, when holding one was an unusual and slightly suspect thing.

18 Feb 1982

A Pale View of Hills

Milestone, and it changed everything. A first novel at twenty seven, two years out of the master's.

Feb 1986

An Artist of the Floating World

Milestone, and it changed his direction. A second novel, and the method taking shape.

26 Oct 1989

The Booker Prize

Milestone, and it changed everything. A butler who cannot say what he means, and the biggest prize in British fiction at thirty four.

The 1990s

1 Jun 1991

Repeat the Booker book

Crossroads, decided.

The paths laid out: write something unlike it, taken, or write it again. He never repeated himself once in forty years, and the Nobel committee gave him the prize in 2017.

4 May 1995

The Unconsoled

Milestone, and it changed everything. Nothing whatsoever like the book that had won the Booker. That is the decision that defines him.

The 2000s

27 Mar 2000

When We Were Orphans

Milestone. A fifth novel, and a fifth register.

3 Mar 2005

Never Let Me Go

Milestone, and it changed everything. Science fiction if you squint at it, and a boarding school novel if you do not.

The 2010s

3 Mar 2015

The Buried Giant

Milestone, and it changed his direction. A novel with ogres in it, from a Booker winner in his sixties.

5 Oct 2017

The Nobel Prize

Milestone, and it changed everything. The Nobel, at sixty two, for a body of work that never repeats itself.

The 2020s

2 Mar 2021

Klara and the Sun

Milestone, and it changed his direction. His first novel after the Nobel, narrated by a machine.

The line reaches today still adding to itself, which is why it is drawn now rather than at the end. What it has set moving is a body of work that never repeats itself, by a writer who won the biggest prize in his trade and then wrote a novel narrated by a machine.

What he wrote

Books by Kazuo Ishiguro

1982
A Pale View of Hills
His first novel, published at twenty seven.
1986
An Artist of the Floating World
A painter in post-war Japan, looking back at what he had lent his work to.
1989
The Remains of the Day
An English butler who cannot say what he means. Booker Prize, 1989.
1995
The Unconsoled
Nothing whatsoever like the book that won him the Booker, which is the point of it.
2005
Never Let Me Go
Science fiction if you squint at it, and a boarding school novel if you do not.
2015
The Buried Giant
A novel with ogres in it, from a Booker winner in his sixties.
2021
Klara and the Sun
His first novel after the Nobel Prize, narrated by a machine.

Your turn

Every line draws a unique story.

His refused to write the same successful book twice, for forty years. Yours is already further along than you think, and drawing it takes about five minutes.

Step through

Draw my own line Explore Character Arc

Kazuo Ishiguro: frequently asked questions

What people ask about his line.

What is Kazuo Ishiguro's character arc?

A childhood begun in Nagasaki and continued in England, a creative writing master's when holding one was still unusual, the Booker Prize at thirty four, and then forty years of refusing to write that book again.

What did Kazuo Ishiguro win the Booker Prize for?

The Remains of the Day, in 1989, when he was thirty four. It is narrated by an English butler who cannot say what he means, which is the thing most of his work is really about.

When did Kazuo Ishiguro win the Nobel Prize?

In 2017, at sixty two. The Nobel Prize in Literature came long after his Booker Prize of 1989, and Klara and the Sun, published in 2021, is the first novel he wrote after it.

What is Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro?

His novel of 2005, which reads as science fiction if you squint at it and as a boarding school novel if you do not. It is probably the book of his that most readers meet first.

Where did Kazuo Ishiguro study?

The University of Kent at Canterbury, where he took a degree in English and philosophy in 1978, and the University of East Anglia, where he took a master's in creative writing in 1980.

How many novels has Kazuo Ishiguro written?

Eight across roughly forty years, from A Pale View of Hills in 1982 to Klara and the Sun in 2021, and no two of them are written in the same register as each other.

Where was Kazuo Ishiguro born?

In Nagasaki, Japan, on 8 November 1954. He was brought up in England from early childhood, took both his degrees there, and writes in English about subjects that are rarely Japanese.

Where does this timeline of Kazuo Ishiguro's life come from?

From the public record. Character Arc drew every moment on this line from the sources listed at the foot of the page, and the kind and weight of each moment are our editorial reading. Kazuo Ishiguro isn't a Member of Character Arc and has no connection with it, and no feeling is attributed to him.

More character arcs

Lives that rhyme with his.

Every Character, A to Z

Sources

Kazuo Ishiguro, English Wikipedia biography, filed under living people.
The Swedish Academy, Nobel Prize in Literature, 2017.
The Booker Prize Foundation, 1989 winner.