Takagi was born Nobuko Tsuruta in
Yamaguchi Prefecture on April 9, 1946. She graduated from the
Junior College of Tokyo Women's University, after which she worked at a publishing company for two years, married her first husband in 1971, and had a son. Takagi moved to
Fukuoka in 1974, divorced her first husband in 1978 and married her second husband, a lawyer, in 1980. the 1999 novel '
, which won the 35th Tanizaki Prize and was later translated into English by Deborah Stuhr Iwabuchi, In 2011 her story ' won the 36th Kawabata Yasunari Literature Prize. In 2018 she was named a
Person of Cultural Merit. Takagi is an Akutagawa Prize selection committee member. She continues to live in Fukuoka. == Recognition ==