Nakamura came to international attention when he won the 2010 Kenzaburō Ōe Prize for his novel, The Thief (掏摸, "Pickpocket").

[2] Nakamura grew up in Aichi Prefecture and graduated in 2000 with a degree in public administration from Fukushima University.

His works have been translated into numerous languages and have been published in the United States, Great Britain, China, France and Spain, among others.

Nakamura cites Franz Kafka and Fyodor Dostoyevsky as literary influences.

In 2002 he received the Shinchō Young Writer Prize for his debut novel The Gun (銃 Jū).