Sumiko Nakano

I’m Sumiko Nakano, a British–Japanese author who somehow ended up living between two worlds — the one I research, and the one I actually inhabit. Born in Ōsaka-shi and raised in the UK, I lost my ability to speak after an accident as a child. I didn’t get my voice back, so I built a new one in writing. Silence didn’t shut me down; it just forced me to communicate with more intent than most people ever need to.

My work focuses on 19th-century Japan, especially the Boshin War and the women history decided to misplace, soften, or ignore. I don’t write the tidy version of events — I write the version that still bites. My novels and historical books are stitched together from research, stubbornness, and an annoying tendency to dig until the truth stops hiding.

I hold a Master of Laws from the University of Liverpool, which trained me to argue with evidence instead of emotion (although both appear in my writing, depending on the day). I begin my PhD in History with Liverpool in 2026, continuing my work on women, conflict, and the way historical silence shapes memory.

Somewhere along the way, my stories wandered off the page and onto the screen — the short films based on my Daughters of Wars series received Awards of Excellence at the One-Reeler Short Film Competition in Los Angeles. A strange experience, considering most of the footage was created at my desk with far too much determination and too little sleep.

What I write is simple: history with a pulse.

Not museum-glass history, not the polite version.

The kind you can feel in your ribs.

Silence may be the loudest part of my life, but on the page, that quiet becomes force. And if my books do their job, you won’t just read the past — you’ll walk straight into it.