Michi Ichiho is a Japanese writer of light novels, manga scripts, and general literature, born in 1978 in Osaka Prefecture. She graduated from the sociology faculty at Kansai University. Before her professional debut, she wrote fan fiction in doujinshi circles. In 2007, she was approached by a publisher, leading to her debut in 2008 with the short story Yuki yo ringo no ka no gotoku (Like the Scent of Apple on Snow), which was published in book form that same year.

Ichiho is best known as the author of the boys-love light novel series Yes ka No ka Hanbun ka (Yes, No, or Maybe?), which began serialization in the quarterly magazine Shōsetsu Dear+ in 2013. The first volume was published by Shinshokan under their Dear+ Bunko imprint in November 2014, with illustrations by Lala Takemiya. The series has since expanded to three main volumes, multiple side stories, and spin-off volumes. The series received recognition in Kono BL ga Yabai!, an annual guidebook for boys-love novels, ranking first in 2016, 2018, and 2019, and second in 2017 in the novel category. It also ranked third in the Yomiuri Shimbun's Sugoi Japan Award in 2017 in the light novel category.

The light novel series was adapted into an anime film by the studio Lesprit, which premiered in Japanese theaters on December 11, 2020, as part of the BL FES!! project. The film was directed by Masahiro Takata, with character designs by Ayano Ōwada and music by Tomoki Hasegawa. Crunchyroll acquired streaming rights for the film outside of Asia and German-speaking Europe, releasing it in March 2021. The series has also been released in English by Seven Seas Entertainment.

Beyond her best-known series, Ichiho has been credited as the writer for several manga series. She wrote the manga Maou no Kikan, a short story that was adapted into a short-form manga in 2021. She collaborated with manga artist Takako Shimura on the series Only Talk, which launched in Shodensha's OnBLUE magazine in April 2024 and concluded in February 2025. The story centers on a young manzai comedy performer whose passion for comedy has waned except for his interest in an older peer. Ichiho and Shimura previously worked together on Blue Moment, and Ichiho has also been credited with the manga series Blue Moment and Only Talk.

Ichiho began her career primarily within the boys-love genre, but has since gained recognition in the broader literary world. Her 2021 short story collection Sumōru wāruruzu (Small Worlds) marked her debut as a writer of general literature. The work was nominated for several major literary awards, including the Naoki Prize, the Booksellers Award (Honya Taishō), and the Yamada Fūtarō Prize, and went on to win the Shizuoka Bookstore Prize and the Yoshikawa Eiji Prize for New Writers. In 2024, she won the prestigious Naoki Prize for her novel Tsumidemikku (Tsumidemic), and also received the Shimase Prize for Love Stories for Hikari no toko ni ite ne (Stay in the Light) in the same year.

In interviews, Ichiho has stated that she writes with the intention of not judging anyone, believing that feelings such as same-sex love or familial affection are existential impulses that should be acknowledged as such. In her boys-love works, she places importance on moe, a feeling of emotional affection, often depicting intimate scenes from the perspective of the receptive partner, focusing on emotional closeness and a guaranteed happy ending. She lives in Osaka and describes her humor as being influenced by Kansai-region culture, which blends melancholy with cheerfulness. She has cited writers such as Hiromi Kawakami, Shion Miura, and Haruki Murakami, as well as manga artists including Fumiko Tanigawa, Emi Ikue, and Takako Shimura, as influences on her work.