Author Biography

Yutaka Hara (1953–) , born in Kumamoto Prefecture, made his debut as an illustrator at the age of 20. In 1974 he won the Children’s Literature Prize in the Kodansha Famous Schools Contest. The character Zorori originally appeared as the villain in the Horenso-man (Spinach Man) series, written by Shiho Mizushima and drawn by Hara from March 1985 to June 1987, before becoming the main character in his own series from 1987 onward. In 2008, an exhibition titled “Fun with the Incredible Zorori: Yutaka Hara and the Zorori Crew” opened at the Kamakura Museum of Literature and later toured museums in Sendai and Himeji.