Fumi Yoshinaga is a Japanese manga artist born in Tokyo in 1971. She attended Keio University in Tokyo, where she was a member of a manga club. Her interest in drawing originated in junior high school, where she discovered doujinshi, or amateur fan comics, which sparked a lasting interest in creating stories, particularly those featuring male-male romance.

Yoshinaga began her professional career in 1994 with the series The Moon and the Sandals, which was serialized in the newly established boys' love magazine Hanaoto. The editor of the magazine was an acquaintance from her doujinshi circles. While she initially worked within the boys' love genre, she eventually transitioned to mainstream magazines, citing a difficulty with the genre's then-common editorial policy that required the inclusion of sex scenes.

Her body of work includes numerous one-shot volumes and long-running series. Among her most acclaimed series are Antique Bakery, a story centered on a group of men running a pastry shop, which was adapted into a Japanese television drama and a South Korean film. Flower of Life is a comedy series set in a high school. She also created the series Gerard & Jacques and Ichigenme... The First Class is Civil Law.

Yoshinaga is the creator of Ōoku: The Inner Chambers, a historical fiction series that reimagines the Edo period of Japan under a matriarchal society following a plague that drastically reduces the male population. The series, which concluded with 19 volumes, has received numerous awards and was adapted into a live-action film, a television drama series, and an anime. She is also the author of What Did You Eat Yesterday?, a long-running series that follows the daily life of a middle-aged gay couple in Tokyo, with a focus on cooking and domestic routines. This series was adapted into a live-action television drama.

Several recurring themes and artistic characteristics define Yoshinaga's work. Many of her stories explore male-male romance, which she has stated allows her to explore relationships that move beyond conventional romantic storylines. She has also expressed a conscious intention to create stories about gay characters that are mindful of actual gay readers. Her work often challenges traditional gender roles, creating female characters who act with rationality and male characters who are more emotionally expressive, a reversal that is central to the premise of Ōoku: The Inner Chambers.

In terms of artistic style, her storytelling is noted for its use of pacing and panel composition. Manga critic Fusanosuke Natsume has highlighted her effective use of ma, or temporal beats, and mahaku, or white space, techniques drawn from shōjo manga to create emotional resonance and a distinctive, dry sense of humor. Her visual style is often minimal, with a focus on character expressions and a restrained use of background detail. Her personal interests, such as a love of food and a fondness for characters with glasses, frequently appear in her work. Outside of her commercial publications, she remains an active doujinshi artist, self-publishing stories that often continue the narratives of her completed series.

Yoshinaga's work has garnered significant critical acclaim and numerous awards. Antique Bakery won the Kodansha Manga Award in 2002. Ōoku: The Inner Chambers has received a long list of honors, including the Japan Media Arts Festival Excellence Award, the Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize Grand Prize, the Shogakukan Manga Award, and the James Tiptree Jr. Award, an American prize for science fiction and fantasy that explores gender. What Did You Eat Yesterday? won the Kodansha Manga Award in the general category in 2019. In 2022, she was awarded the Agency for Cultural Affairs' Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology New Artist Award in the media arts division. She has also been nominated for the Eisner Award for her work.