• maya rushing walker

    historical novelist and essayist

  • Maya Rushing Walker is a historical novelist and essayist. Her work is shaped by questions of memory, inheritance, language, and the complicated ways the past remains alive in the present.


    She is currently writing fiction rooted in medieval Japan, especially the world of Hōjō Masako, Minamoto no Yoritomo, and the turbulent transition from court rule to warrior government.

    Novelist and researcher writing about history, power, family, and the interior lives of women.

  • writing

    what i write

    I write historical fiction and essays about memory, inheritance, language, and the lives of women in moments of political and cultural rupture.

    historical fiction

    This work is rooted in medieval Japan, especially the world of Hōjō Masako, Minamoto no Yoritomo, and the early Kamakura shogunate.

    selected publications

    Previous novels and publications will be listed here soon. For current essays, updates, and notes on writing, read Japlish.

  • newsletter

    Japlish is my newsletter about writing, reading, family history, Japan, and the imperfect languages we use to understand where we come from. It’s where I share essays, notes, and dispatches from the work of making a life around books and historical fiction.

  • contact


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