Nagaru Tanigawa (谷川 流, Tanigawa Nagaru), born December 19, 1970, is a Japanese author. He is a graduate of the law school at Kwansei Gakuin University. He is best known as the creator of the Haruhi Suzumiya series for which he won the grand prize at the eighth annual Sneaker Awards and has been adapted into an anime television series. While Tanigawa was on hiatus from writing his light novel series, he wrote the manga series Amnesia Labyrinth, which was serialized in Dengeki Bunko Magazine. As a native of Hyōgo, Tanigawa speaks the Kansai-ben dialect, but the Haruhi series is written in the Tokyo dialect instead. He grew up in Nishinomiya, between Kobe and Osaka, and is part of the Hyōgo Prefecture, in the Kansai region (関西地方 Kansai-chihō) of Japan. Numerous landmarks in Nishinomiya, including the high school, feature in The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya anime. The light novel series has also mentioned the Hanshin Tigers (based in real life Nishinomiya).
