Born in Tokyo, Kawakami graduated from Ochanomizu Women's College in 1980. Her first novel God (Kamisama) was published in 1994. In 1996, she was awarded the Akutagawa Prize for Tread On A Snake (Hebi wo fumu). In 2000 she won the It? Sei Literature Prize and the Woman Writer's Prize for Oboreru. In 2001, she went on to win the Tanizaki Prize for her novel The Teacher's Briefcase (Sensei no kaban), a love story between a woman in her thirties and a man in his seventies. In 2007 she was honored by the Ministry of Education for her novel Manazuru. She is also known as a literary critic and a provocative essayist.

• Kamisama (God), 1994

An partial English translation of this story is included in Read Real Japanese, a compilation of Japanese short stories edited by Michael Emmerich, published in 2008.

• Hebi wo fumu (????, Tread On A Snake), 1996
• Oboreru (Drowning), 2000
• Sensei no kaban (The Teacher's Briefcase), 2000
• Furudogu Nakano Shoten (The Nakano Thrift Store), 2005
• Pasuta Mashiin Yuurei (Pasta Machine Ghosts), 2010