Fumi Yoshinaga

is a Japanese manga artist known for her and boys' love works.

Life Fumi Yoshinaga was born in Tokyo, Japan in 1971. She discovered amateur manga, , in junior high school, when a friend showed her a doujinshi depicting a romantic relationship between two male characters of Captain Tsubasa. While still in school, she hid from others that she was an otaku in order to avoid bullying.

She attended Keio University in Tokyo. While at university, she joined a manga club in order to be able to talk to others about manga. When she read the popular manga series Slam Dunk, she was inspired to create a gay love story based on the characters of Kogure and Mitsui. She continued making throughout her time as a student and participated in conventions.

Her professional career started as an addition to her activities as a doujinshi artist. She made her professional debut as a manga artist in 1994 with The Moon and the Sandals, serialized in the newly-founded boys' love magazine Hanaoto. The editor of the magazine was a friend of hers that she had met through doujinshi.

In an interview, she said that "I want to show the people who didn't win, whose dreams didn't come true. It is not possible for everybody to get first prize. I want my readers to understand the happiness that people can get from trying hard, going through the process, and getting frustrated".

She has received several awards for her works: 2002 Antique Bakery Kodansha Manga Award (Shōjo) 2004 All My Darling Daughters Japan Media Arts Festival selected as a Jury Recommended Work (Manga Division) 2005 Ōoku: The Inner Chambers Sense of Gender Awards (Special Prize) 2006 Ōoku: The Inner Chambers Japan Media Arts Festival (Excellence Award) 2007 Ōoku: The Inner Chambers Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize 2007 Antique Bakery Eisner Award (Best U.S. Edition of International Material — Japan) English-language translation by Digital Manga Publishing 2008 Flower of Life YALSA Great Graphic Novels for Teens English-language translation by Digital Manga Publishing 2008 The Moon and the Sandals YALSA Great Graphic Novels for Teens English-language translation by Digital Manga Publishing 2008 Ōoku: The Inner Chambers Manga Taishō 2008 Flower of Life Manga Taishō 2008 What Did You Eat Yesterday? Manga Taishō 2008 Ōoku: The Inner Chambers Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize 2008 — Eisner Award (Best Writer/Artist). 2009 Ōoku: The Inner Chambers Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize (Grand Prize) 2009 Ōoku: The Inner Chambers James Tiptree, Jr. Award English-language translation by Viz Media 2010 Ōoku: The Inner Chambers YALSA Great Graphic Novels for Teens English-language translation by Viz Media 2010 Ōoku: The Inner Chambers Shogakukan Manga Award (Shōjo) 2019 What Did You Eat Yesterday? Kodansha Manga Award (General) 2021 Ōoku: The Inner Chambers SOG Hall of Fame Award (Hakusensha) all 19 volumes

Works One-shots

Series

Illustrations Shōnen-ai novels

Miscellaneous - A book about the state of manga today by famed manga scholar, Fusanosuke Natsume - Mag Garden - Mag-Garden - New Japanese edition of Denis Diderot's Jacques the Fatalist and his Master - Interviews of selected manga artist