Atsuko Asano, born in 1954 in Okayama Prefecture, is a Japanese writer who has penned the children's series Telepathy Shojo Ran, and the manga series The Manzai Comics. She began writing childrens novels while attending Aoyama Gakuin College, and majored in literature. Hotaru-kan Monogatari was her first novel. In 1997 she recieved the Noma Prize for Juvenile Literature in 1997 for her book series, Battery, which later went on to win the Shogakukan Children's Publication Culture award in 2005, and has been adapted into a film.