Kazuo Ishiguro in September 1995: photograph by Mark Gerson (National Portrait Gallery)

1954 On 8 November, Kazuo Ishiguro is born in Nagasaki, Japan; his father, Shageo, is often away, doing oceanographic research in North America and Britain, and his paternal grandfather acts as surrogate father.

1960 The Ishiguro family leave for Guildford, Surrey; the stay is meant to last just one year, while Ishiguro’s father carries out a research project in the North Sea, but the family eventually stays permanently.

1965-74 Ishiguro attends Woking Country Grammar School for Boys in Guildford.

1973 Ishiguro is hired as grouse beater for the Queen Mother at Balmoral Castle, in Scotland.

1974-75 Having graduated from high school, Ishiguro takes a gap year, travelling through the U.S. and writing songs.

1975-78 Ishiguro studies English and Philosophy at the University of Kent, at Canterbury, and graduates with a BA honors degree.

1978-80 Ishiguro engages in social action for the homeless, the unemployed and migrants in Scotland and with the Cyrenians community group in London; he meets Lorna Anne MacDougall, a social worker who is a member of the group. The couple settles in London.

1979-80 Ishiguro enters the Creative Writing program at the University of East Anglia and graduates with a masters degree. His teachers include Malcolm Bradbury and Angela Carter.

1981 Three of Ishiguro’s short stories (“A Strange and Sometimes Sadness,” “Waiting for J” and “Getting Poisoned”) appear in Faber & Faber’s Introduction 7: Stories by New Writers, a series showcasing young authors of promise.

1982 Ishiguro publishes his first novel, A Pale View of Hills.

1984 Channel Four airs A Profile of Arthur J. Mason, a television play written by Ishiguro and directed by Michael Whyte.

1986 Ishiguro publishes his second novel, An Artist of the Floating World; the novel wins the Whithbread Book of the Year award and is shortlisted for the Booker Prize. The same year, Ishiguro and Lorna Ann MacDougall are married.

1989 Ishiguro publishes his third novel, The Remains of the Day; he is awarded the Booker Prize. The same year, Ishiguro returns to Japan for the first time in 35 years, following an invitation by the Japan Foundation.

1992 Ishiguro’s daughter, Naomi, is born.

1993 The Merchant-Ivory film adaptation of The Remains of the Day is released, starring Emma Thompson and Anthony Hopkins, who wins the British Academy Film award for best actor.

1995 Ishiguro publishes his fourth novel, The Unconsoled. The same year, receives the Order of the British Empire for services to literature.

2000 Ishiguro publishes his fifth novel, When We Were Orphans; the novel is short-listed for the Booker Prize.

2005 Ishiguro publishes his sixth novel, Never Let Me Go. The same year, James Ivory’s film The White Countess is released, adapted from a screenplay by Ishiguro; the film stars Ralph Fiennes, Natasha Richardson and Vanessa Redgrave.

2009 Ishiguro publishes Nocturnes, a collection of five short stories.

2010 A film adaptation of Never Let Me Go is released, directed by Mark Romanek, and starring Carey Mulligan, Keira Knightley and Andrew Garfield.

2015 Ishiguro publishes his seventh novel, The Buried Giant. The same year, the BBC ranks The Remains of the Day 18^th in its list of the 100 greatest British novels.

2017 Ishiguro is awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.

2021 Ishiguro publishes his eighth novel, Klara and the Sun.