[1] At age 17, she told her parents that she was working on her university entrance exams, but she was actually writing her first novella, titled Insutōru (Install).

[4] After graduating from Murasakino High School in Kyoto, Wataya attended Waseda University, where her thesis focused on the structure of Osamu Dazai's Hashire merosu (走れ、メロス Run, Melos!).

[3] In 2004, while a second-year student at Waseda, Wataya received the Akutagawa Prize for her short novel Keritai senaka ("The Back You Want to Kick").

[7] Wataya did not immediately write more novels after winning the Akutagawa Prize, but rather worked several jobs in Kyoto, including selling clothes in a department store and serving as a hotel waitress.

[8] She returned to writing with her 2007 book Yume wo ataeru (Give Me a Dream), and in 2010 her novel Katte ni furuetero (Tremble All You Want) became a best-seller in Japan.