Hiro Arikawa is a respected Japanese author, well-known for her work in the light novel genre. Arikawa won the Dengeki Novel Prize for new writers in 2003 for her novel Shio no Machi: Wish on My Precious, which was published the following year. This achievement launched her career as a light novelist, a writing style that primarily targets middle and high school students and is often illustrated in manga style, and commonly adapted into anime and manga. Despite being a light novelist, Arikawa's books from her second work onwards have been published as hardbacks alongside more literary works, which is unusual in the industry. She has received special treatment in this respect from her publisher, MediaWorks.
Arikawa's work is known for its in-depth exploration of various themes, including love, age, and social status. Shio no Machi, for instance, received praise for its love story between a heroine and hero divided by age and social status, and for its depiction of military structures. Her 2006 light novel Toshokan Sensō (The Library War) was a significant success, named as Hon no Zasshi's number one for entertainment for the first half of 2006, and came fifth in the Honya Taishō for that year. Arikawa has also written about the Japan Self-Defense Forces (JSDF) in her first three novels, which are known as the Jieitai Sanbusaku (The SDF Trilogy). Additionally, she wrote about the fictional Library Forces in the Toshokan Sensō series. Raintree no Kuni, which first appeared as a book within a book in Toshokan Nairan, was later published by Arikawa as a spin-off with another publisher and adapted into a film titled World of Delight. Her novel Shokubutsu Zukan will also be adapted into a film titled Shokubutsu Zukan: Unmei no Koi, Hiroimashita, which is scheduled for release on June 4, 2016.