Biography

Masaya Chiba was born in 1978 in Utsunomiya City, Tochigi Prefecture, Japan. He studied at the University of Tokyo, the Université de Paris 10 and the École normale supérieure de Paris. In 2012, he received his doctorate from the University of Tokyo. That same year, he became an associate professor at Ritsumeikan University and moved to Osaka.

Chiba has developed his own theory of the relationship between ontology, subjectivity, and art, based on his studies of contemporary French thought and psychoanalysis.

In 2019, Chiba published his first novel, “Deadline,” for which he received the Noma Literary New Face Prize and was nominated for the Akutagawa Prize. In 2021, his short story “Magic Mirror” received the Kawabata Yasunari Literary Prize and his second long novel “Overheat” was nominated for the Akutagawa Prize. In 2023, his third long novel “Electric” was published.

In parallel with his philosophical and literary activities, Chiba has also begun to work in art and music.