Shintaro Kobayashi was born in Tokyo in 1979. Since 2014 he has worked as a love letter ghostwriter, penning over 300 letters and featuring in both Japanese and international media. He has previously published a collection of tanka poetry, Be a Lover, under the name Shizuka Kobayashi.

His international debut, Love Letters From Tokyo, is a collection of reflections on love, letters and human connection inspired by the letters he has written for others in the past decade. These include long-suppressed declarations of love to marriage proposals to wistful notes of regret, written for those from all walks of life, who have “sought his help in expressing their care, concern and affection for loved ones”. World English language rights were pre-empted by Hodder & Stoughton, with US rights going to Little Brown, also in a pre-empt, for publication in autumn 2027.