Murasaki Shikibu

Author

(973 – Unknown) · East Asia

Japanese author and court lady of the early eleventh century, widely credited as the author of The Tale of Genji, considered by many scholars to be the world's first novel. She served at the court of Empress Shoshi in Heian-era Japan and also kept a personal diary, the Murasaki Shikibu Diary, which offers a rare first-person account of court life. Little else is known of her life with certainty.