Takashi Hiraide (1950-) is a Japanese poet, critic and book designer.
As one of the leading poets of Japan’s post-war generation he has published books of various genres and forms from poetry to prose and from poetics of sports to criticism on arts, receiving numerous prizes.
His first novel The Guest Cat, became a New York Times and Sunday Times bestseller in 2014. It has been translated into 15 languages and will be translated into more than 24 languages. This is also a book of hybrid literary form consisting of Japanese I-novel style & Surrealistic documentary.
Kenzaburo Oe, Nobel Prize-winning novelist, highly praised Hiraide’s writings for providing a new direction for prose within the field of poetry.
Since 2010 he has designed, produced and published a series of postal art books, via wwalnuts, an alternative book project against the established system of Japan’s literary society of today.