En Mikami 三上 延

En Mikami (1971–) was determined to become a writer after graduating from college, so he worked part time at second-hand record and book shops while writing on the side and submitting manuscripts to new-writer competitions. His three years of bookstore experience ultimately contributed to the success of his Biburia Koshodō no jiken techō (The Biblia Antiquarian Bookstore Case Files; 2011) series, which became a major hit. His first break came when Dāku baioretsu (Dark Violets), a high-school horror novel he submitted for the Dengeki Novel Prize, an award targeted at new writers of light novels, caught an editor’s attention and was published in 2002. He became a full-time writer and began producing light novels in the horror/fantasy vein one after the other. The Biburia series of linked mysteries set in a used bookstore had sold over 4.7 million copies in three volumes through February 2013, and has also been adapted to TV; the fourth volume in the series, its first novel-length installment, was published in 2013.