About Kōbō Abe
Kimifusa Abe (安部 公房, Abe Kimifusa; March 7, 1924 – January 22, 1993), known by his pen name Kōbō Abe (安部 公房, Abe Kōbō), was a Japanese writer, playwright and director. His 1962 novel The Woman in the Dunes was made into an award-winning film by Hiroshi Teshigahara in 1964. Abe has often been compared to Franz Kafka for his modernist sensibilities and his surreal, often nightmarish explorations of individuals in contemporary society. He died aged 68 of heart failure in Tokyo after a brief illness. Though he did much work as an avant-garde novelist and playwright, it was not until the publication of The Woman in the Dunes in 1962 that Abe won widespread international acclaim. In 1971, he founded the Abe Studio, an acting studio in Tokyo. The decision to found the studio came two years after he first directed his own work in 1969, a production of The Man Who Turned Into A Stick.
Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.