竹宮惠子

She is a Japanese mangaka and the previous president of Kyoto Seika University. She is also part of the Year 24 group. She debuted in "COM" magazine by winning "Monthly Newcomer Award" for "Friendship of the Heart." In December 1970, she published a short story titled Sanroomu Nite ("In the Sunroom") in Bessatsu Shoujo, which is possibly the first shounen-ai manga ever published and contains the earliest known male-male kiss in shoujo manga. Her inspiration to become a mangaka had come from shounen manga (particularly the works of Shotaro Ishinomori), films, and documentaries. Among her most noted works are the manga "Toward the Terra" and "Kaze to Ki no Uta." In 2014, she was awarded the Medal of Honor with Purple Ribbon by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications of Japan for her contributions to manga. She currently lives in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan.