【Unpublished Manuscript Discovered!】 Ayako Sono's First Anniversary Memorial Project 'Living Humanly' to be Published on March 27th. The concluding volume, following the February publication 'Living True to Yourself'. The truths of humanity and words of life pursued throughout her lifetime.

Kawade Shobo Shinsha Co., Ltd. (Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo / Representative Director Yu Onodera) will release 'Living Humanly' (Tax-included price 1,540 yen), an memorial project for Ayako Sono's first anniversary, on March 27, 2026.

Ayako Sono debuted in the literary world in 1954 with the publication of 'Guests from Afar' while she was a student at Seishin Women's University.

She depicted the Catholic worldview, human dignity, karma, and forgiveness with delicate sensitivity, making a striking impact on society as the appearance of a female writer, which was still rare at the time.

● Ayako Sono around the time of her debut (photographed around 1956)

Source: Wikimedia Commons (Public Domain)

Since then, she has published numerous bestsellers such as 'For Whom Do You Love?' (70), 'Taro's Story' (73-79), 'God's Dirty Hands' (79), 'The Wisdom of Old Age' (10), and 'My Husband's Aftermath' (17), engaging in literary activities on the front lines for 70 years. For recent readers, her essays dealing with universal themes such as aging and death, life and loneliness, may be fresh in their memory.

In addition, Sono received numerous awards through her literary activities and social contribution activities both domestically and internationally, including the Cross of Merit of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences from the Holy See, the Japan Society of Civil Engineers Book Award (1987 for 'Birth of a Lake'), the Imperial Prize and Japan Art Academy Prize (1993), the Japan Broadcasting Corporation (NHK) Cultural Award (1995), the Yoshikawa Eiji Cultural Prize (1997, representing the Overseas Japanese Missionaries Assistance Support Association), the Yomiuri Prize for International Cooperation (1997), and the Kikuchi Kan Prize (2012). She is also known for being the first woman to serve as Chairman of The Nippon Foundation for 11 years, from 1995 to 2005.

● First Anniversary Memorial Project 'Living True to Yourself' and 'Living Humanly'

The first anniversary memorial project, completed in two volumes, includes unpublished manuscripts discovered after Sono's death: 'Living True to Yourself,' published in February 2026, and 'Living Humanly,' published in March 2026.

The manuscripts, dictated around 1992 at a villa on the Miura Peninsula, are revived today as unfading words after more than 30 years. These dictated essays were unusual for their time and are works that lead into the later bestseller, 'The Wisdom of Old Age'.

The discovery of the manuscripts and the release of this book were also reported on NHK News.