[Unpublished Manuscript Discovered!] Ayako Sono's 1st Anniversary Memorial Project 'To Live Humanely' to be published on March 27. The concluding volume following the February release 'To Live True to Yourself'. The truth of humanity and words of life pursued throughout her life.
Kawade Shobo Shinsha will publish 'To Live Humanely', featuring an unpublished manuscript by the late Ayako Sono, on March 27, 2026, as a memorial for the first anniversary of her passing.
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- 📰 Published: March 27, 2026 at 23:41
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Kawade Shobo Shinsha Co., Ltd. (Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo / Representative Director Masaru Onodera) will release 'To Live Humanely' (fixed price 1,540 yen including tax), a project commemorating the first anniversary of Ayako Sono's passing, on March 27, 2026.
Ayako Sono made her literary debut in 1954 while a student at the University of the Sacred Heart with the publication of 'Guests from Afar'.
Depicting the Catholic worldview, human dignity, karma, and forgiveness with delicate sensibility, her emergence as a female author—a rarity at the time—made a striking impact on society.
● Ayako Sono around the time of her debut (Taken around 1956)
Source: Wikimedia Commons (Public Domain)
Following that, she released numerous bestsellers into the world, including 'For Whom to Love' (1970), 'The Tale of Taro' (1973-79), 'God's Soiled Hands' (1979), 'The Talent of Aging' (2010), and 'Cleaning Up After a Husband' (2017), maintaining an active writing career on the front lines for 70 years. Recent readers may vividly recall her essays dealing with universal themes such as aging and death, life and loneliness.
Furthermore, Sono received numerous awards through her literary and domestic and international social contribution activities, starting with the Vatican Cross of Merit awarded by the Holy See, the Japan Society of Civil Engineers Publishing Award ('Birth of a Lake', 1987), the Imperial Prize and Japan Art Academy Prize (1993), the NHK Broadcasting Culture Award (1995), the Eiji Yoshikawa Cultural Award (1997, as representative of the support group for overseas Japanese missionaries), the Yomiuri International Cooperation Prize (1997), and the Kan Kikuchi Prize (2012). For 11 years from 1995 to 2005, she is also known for serving as the first female chairperson of the Nippon Foundation.
● First Anniversary Memorial Project 'To Live True to Yourself' and 'To Live Humanely'
'To Live True to Yourself' published in February 2026 and 'To Live Humanely' published in March include unpublished manuscripts discovered after Sono's passing, making up a two-volume memorial project for her first anniversary.
Dictated at a villa on the Miura Peninsula around 1992, these manuscripts are revived now, over 30 years later, as words that have not faded. Dictated essays were rare at the time, and this work leads up to the later massive bestseller 'The Talent of Aging'.
The discovery of the manuscript and the release of this book were also reported on NHK News.
Ayako Sono made her literary debut in 1954 while a student at the University of the Sacred Heart with the publication of 'Guests from Afar'.
Depicting the Catholic worldview, human dignity, karma, and forgiveness with delicate sensibility, her emergence as a female author—a rarity at the time—made a striking impact on society.
● Ayako Sono around the time of her debut (Taken around 1956)
Source: Wikimedia Commons (Public Domain)
Following that, she released numerous bestsellers into the world, including 'For Whom to Love' (1970), 'The Tale of Taro' (1973-79), 'God's Soiled Hands' (1979), 'The Talent of Aging' (2010), and 'Cleaning Up After a Husband' (2017), maintaining an active writing career on the front lines for 70 years. Recent readers may vividly recall her essays dealing with universal themes such as aging and death, life and loneliness.
Furthermore, Sono received numerous awards through her literary and domestic and international social contribution activities, starting with the Vatican Cross of Merit awarded by the Holy See, the Japan Society of Civil Engineers Publishing Award ('Birth of a Lake', 1987), the Imperial Prize and Japan Art Academy Prize (1993), the NHK Broadcasting Culture Award (1995), the Eiji Yoshikawa Cultural Award (1997, as representative of the support group for overseas Japanese missionaries), the Yomiuri International Cooperation Prize (1997), and the Kan Kikuchi Prize (2012). For 11 years from 1995 to 2005, she is also known for serving as the first female chairperson of the Nippon Foundation.
● First Anniversary Memorial Project 'To Live True to Yourself' and 'To Live Humanely'
'To Live True to Yourself' published in February 2026 and 'To Live Humanely' published in March include unpublished manuscripts discovered after Sono's passing, making up a two-volume memorial project for her first anniversary.
Dictated at a villa on the Miura Peninsula around 1992, these manuscripts are revived now, over 30 years later, as words that have not faded. Dictated essays were rare at the time, and this work leads up to the later massive bestseller 'The Talent of Aging'.
The discovery of the manuscript and the release of this book were also reported on NHK News.