Friday, April 18, 2008

Unknown Birthday: Murasaki Shikibu

Murasaki Shikibu, artist
c. 973-c. 1014 or 1025

Lives of the Writers: Comedies, Tragedies (and What the Neighbors Thought) by Kathleen Krull, illustrated by Kathryn Hewitt(Harcourt, 1994)

Novelist. Poet. Servant in royal court. Japan's Shikibu is best known as author of The Tale of Genji, one of the earliest published novels of all time.

Read parts of Murasaki Shikibu's diary online at Penn's digital library site.