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Poppy Kuroki
Represented By: Ivan Mulcahy
Poppy Kuroki was born in Scotland and grew up living in various towns in England. After graduating from York St John University, she moved to Japan where she lived for eleven years, including Nagano, Tokyo and Kanagawa.
Meeting new people, seeing unique places and studying the language inspired her to write about time travel, yokai monsters and samurai. She now lives in a beautiful city in Yorkshire with her family and she loves to sing, cook, and play video games. She likes visiting new places, especially if it has a cafe and a bookshop, and above all she loves spending time with her children.
Represented By: Ivan Mulcahy
Poppy Kuroki was born in Scotland and grew up living in various towns in England. After graduating from York St John University, she moved to Japan where she lived for eleven years, including Nagano, Tokyo and Kanagawa.
Meeting new people, seeing unique places and studying the language inspired her to write about time travel, yokai monsters and samurai. She now lives in a beautiful city in Yorkshire with her family and she loves to sing, cook, and play video games. She likes visiting new places, especially if it has a cafe and a bookshop, and above all she loves spending time with her children.
published works
Author: Poppy Kuroki
Genres: Fiction, Genre Fiction
In the second book in the Ancestor Memories historical fantasy series, a young woman finds herself back in 1920s Tokyo as Japan enters a new and dangerous era—and a deadly tragedy awaits her city.
Yui Sanada struggles to raise her twelve-year-old brother, Hiro, while contending with the antics of their neglectful, alcoholic mother. During a trip to Ueno Park, Hiro runs away from his sister into a strange passage beneath a samurai statue. Yui chases after him and soon finds herself in a Tokyo far removed from the familiar world of 1995.
When Yui emerges from the tunnel, she cannot find Hiro but meets a young woman named Chiyo and her family and learns she has traveled back through time to 1923. As feelings between the two women develop, Yui and realizes it’s just weeks before the devastating Great Kanto Earthquake will happen, killing tens of thousands and leveling the city. Will Yui be able to find her brother and save her new family from the coming disaster?
Author: Poppy Kuroki
Genres: Fiction, Genre Fiction
A Marie Claire Summer Reads Pick, 2024
2005: While researching her Japanese ancestors, Isla travels from Scotland to Kagoshima. There, a vicious typhoon hurls her through a strange white gate and back to 1877, amid the dawn of the Satsuma Rebellion – the conflict that ended the samurai.
When she meets Keiichiro Maeda, a samurai who introduces her to a way of life only previously encountered in books, Isla begins to wonder if she has found her true home. But as the samurai fight a losing battle, she is increasingly distraught. Should she forewarn Keiichiro and save the man she loves or let him die the glorious death he so believes in, proud to the end that he remained a faithful warrior?
And what will become of Isla? Is she willing to leave the past behind, knowing her future will forever be changed?
“Fun, romantic and heartbreaking. Serious Outlander vibes with a fresh new twist.”
- Pim Wangtechawat, author of The Moon Represents my Heart“Refreshingly original. The author clearly has a great love of the [Japanese] culture, both past and present, something that shines through in the richness of her writing... A stunning debut.”
- Jason Ayres, author of The Time Bubble series“A terrific ‘what if’ time-travel novel with an intriguing historical element, epic battles, and a dash of romance.”
- Adrian Cousins, author of The Jason Apley series
Works on Submission
Author: Poppy Kuroki
Genres: Genre Fiction
Subject-led non-fiction by fantasy novelist and history-enthusiast Poppy Kuroki is a MYTHOS style introduction to the world of Japanese myths, legends and fairytales.
Leveraging her passion for history that helped uncover the female samurai featured in her ANCESTOR MEMORIES series (Book 1 of which was Barnes and Nobles’ speculative pick one month after publication), Poppy now turns her hand to non-fiction to contextualise and re-tell a selection of Japan’s beloved and forgotten myths.
From flawed and formidable gods to terrifying and endearing yokai (monsters), from monks and princesses who make for equally compelling protagonists, from origin myths to enduring influences on otaku culture, SHINWA is an energised and vibrant return to the tried-and-true storytelling tradition. Whether Japan was at war, rebuilding after natural disasters, erecting mighty castles or training samurai, commonfolk and elites alike didn’t just delight in these stories but subsisted on them. SHINWA reminds us that myths are containers of our essence.
International readers are bound to find echoes of the stories they grew up on, while discovering alternative takes on wisdoms of yore, or new characters and allegories entirely.
Poppy recently moved back to the UK after over a decade living in Japan and is now raising a half-Japanese son. Writing and researching SHINWA is a sort of reverse home-coming: an invitation she extends to the reader as early as the first page. So come along for the myths and leave with your imagination and knowledge enriched.
Author: Molly Reid (Poppy Kuroki)
Genres: Fiction, Young Adult
How does a girl with her head permanently stuck in a book look beyond stories and start over? If only it were that simple . . .
Chloe's life feels like a book with a missing chapter. Stuck in a rut and back in her quiet hometown of Wellbridge, Chloe finds that she has traded big-city dreams for her childhood bedroom, working at the local library and hiding behind the pages of her favourite books. But one stormy night when she seeks refuge in the library after a disastrous date, everything changes.
Under the watchful eye of Mrs. Cook, the warm-hearted head librarian who seems to know more than she lets on, and Clementine, the library's whisker-twitching cat, Chloe discovers that the library seems to hold more than stories. Here, books glow with secrets, characters leap from pages, and the shelves hum with enchantment. More importantly, it has an ability to nudge people toward what they need most - whether it's healing, hope or a second chance. But is there more to the library's magic?
Chloe must accept that she needs to face her past and learn that sometimes, the right book - or the right person - can rewrite your entire story.