Sean Michael Wilson
Sean Michael Wilson is a comic book writer from Scotland, living in Japan. He has had more than 40 books published with a variety of US, UK and Japanese publishers, including: a comic book version of A Christmas Carol ('Best of 2008’, Sunday Times), AX:alternative manga ( 'Best ten books of 2010’, Publishers Weekly), Parecomic (with an introduction by Noam Chomsky, his first contribution to a book in graphic form), and recent upcoming book ’The Many Not the Few’ has an introduction by the leader of the Labour Party and was launched at a special event in the House of Commons.
He is currently writing books for big Japanese publisher Kodansha, being the only British writer to do so. In fact, he is the only professional manga writer from Britain who lives in Japan. He is also the editor of the critically acclaimed collection 'AX:alternative manga' (one of Publishers Weekly's 'Best ten books of 2010' and nominated for a Harvey award). Working with Shambhala Publications in the US he has written a unique line of Japanese history/martial arts/Samurai books, including The Book of Five Rings, The 47 Ronin, and Cold Mountain Poems (winner of China Comic and Animation Competition 2015 ‘Best Overseas Comic’ award). In 2016 his book The Faceless Ghost was nominated for the prestigious Eisner Book Awards, and received a medal in the 2016 'Independent Publisher Book Awards'. In 2017 his book Secrets of the Ninja won an International Manga Award from the Japanese government - he is the first British person to receive this award. In 2020 he received the ‘Scottish Samurai Award’ from an association celebrating links between Japan and Scotland. In 2021 his book 'The Minamata Story' won a silver medal in the Freeman Book Awards of Columbia University.
He often gives lectures and talks about comics in schools and colleges, and writes articles for such places as The Japan Times, New Internationalist, Asia-Pacific Journal and The Herald Scotland.
http://seanmichaelwilson.weebly.com
Recent and notable books:
* Such, Such Were the Joys, Pluto Press, 2021
* The Minamata Story - Freeman Book Award, 2021
* Spirit of Japan, Liminal 11 Publications, 2021
* Manga Yokai Stories, Tuttle, 2020
* The Garden, Liminal 11 Publications, 2020
* The Many Not the Few - Intro by Leader of the Labour Party, 2019.
* Portraits of Violence - Independent Publisher Book Award, 2018
* Secrets of the Ninja - International Manga Award, 2017.