Ryohgo Narita

Ryohgo Narita is a Japanese light novelist and the creator of Durarara!! He won the Gold Prize in the 9th Dengeki Novel Prize for Baccano!. He began Durarara!! not long after, and has since gone on to expand his original series as well as author and co-author many other novel and manga series.

History
Narita was born in Tokyo, Japan, and grew up in Saitama Prefecture. During college, he submitted Baccano! The Rolling Bootlegs for the 9th Dengeki Novel Prize in 2002 and tied for the Gold Prize. Baccano! was made into an anime TV series in 2007. He began Durarara!! in 2004 and the first three light novels were made into an anime TV series in 2010. The 13-volume light novel series was concluded in 2014, and he is currently writing its sequel series, Durarara!! SH; a spinoff series featuring Izaya Orihara, one of the primary antagonists of Durarara!!; as well as many other ongoing works and collaborations.

Works
Narita's works feature an ensemble cast - a large cast of characters whom the story follows equally. Each story is a blend of first, second, and third person narration. He has said that he rarely has a main character in mind when writing his stories; he would prefer if the reader decided who the main character is.

Though his stories seem to take place in ordinary times and places, he simultaneously sets them in two unreachable worlds: one, a world where the supernatural exists as a part of daily life; and two, the underworld. He refers to this aspect of his works as "the extraordinary within the ordinary."

He frequently includes cultural, historical, and literary references in his works from a wide variety of places and periods. His stories that take place outside of Japan often contain Japanese elements, including characters of Japanese origin and many cultural references.

Most of Narita's original works exist within a shared universe known as the Naritaverse.

Trivia

 * Narita is known for making many spelling mistakes and grammatical errors. Often his editors humorously include them in the published works.
 * Narita writes extremely quickly. However, health complications frequently keep him from maintaining his intense publishing schedule.
 * He is fan of Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor, the prequel to Devil Survivor 2 and Devil Survivor 2: Record Breaker, and mentions in his afterword to Durarara!!x5 that he has played the game at least two times through.

Links

 * Twitter
 * Official Website