99-Year-Old Woman Is Japan’s New Star Poet

“Toyo Shibata only started writing when she was 92; now, as she prepares to celebrate her 100th birthday, her poems are finding an eager audience in Japan … [Her] anthology, Kujikenaide [Don’t Lose Heart], has sold 1.5m copies since its publication, in late 2009.” (A poetry volume that sells 10,000 copies is considered successful in Japan.)