Shirow Shiratori is a Japanese light novelist born in 1981 in Tajimi, Gifu Prefecture, Japan. He is best known as the creator of the popular light novel series No-Rin and The Ryuo's Work Is Never Done!, both of which have been adapted into anime.

Shiratori studied law, first at Kanazawa University's faculty of law and later at the graduate school of law at Meijo University. He began writing novels during his second year of university. His initial motivation for becoming a writer was financial, as he needed to care for his family and cover tuition expenses, which led him to seek work that could be done remotely. He made his literary debut in April 2008 with the series Rajikaru Erementsu, published by SB Creative under the GA Bunko imprint. This was followed by Sōkai Gāruzu!, which ran from August 2009 to March 2010. Both early series spanned three volumes each.

His first major breakthrough came with No-Rin, which began publication in July 2011. The series won the newly established Ranobezuki Shotenin Taishō award in 2012. The story is set in an agricultural school, and Shiratori has stated that he knew nothing about farming when he began writing it. His approach was to write about topics he found interesting from personal experience, believing that many readers would similarly be unfamiliar with the subject matter. The goal was to create novels that would get people interested in a topic they previously knew nothing about. No-Rin received a twelve-episode anime adaptation in 2014. The light novel series spanned thirteen volumes published between 2011 and October 2016, after which it entered an indefinite hiatus.

His most acclaimed work, The Ryuo's Work Is Never Done!, began publication in September 2015. The series is a comedy about a live-in apprentice and intense shogi matches, with all matches supervised by Saiyuki, Osaka's young professional shogi team. In July 2016, the series won Shiratori the 28th Shōgi Pen Club Taishō Literary Club's Award of Excellence. It was also ranked number one by Kono Light Novel ga Sugoi! in both 2017 and 2018. The series received a twelve-episode anime adaptation that aired from January to March 2018, produced by Project No.9. A manga adaptation illustrated by Kogetaokoge was serialized in Square Enix's Young Gangan magazine from September 2015 to August 2019.

Shiratori has stated that The Ryuo's Work Is Never Done! was the first series he wrote purely for his own enjoyment, in contrast to his earlier works where he wrote what he believed readers would enjoy. He began playing shogi as a child at age five or six, and his knowledge of the game influenced the series. He has cited Hikaru no Go as a reference for his writing, noting that what makes shogi or Go stories interesting is not the matches themselves but the characters and their emotional struggles. Due to the success of The Ryuo's Work Is Never Done!, Shiratori has occasionally commentated on prominent shogi matches, and his journalism covering a decisive game of the 3rd Eiō Shōgi competition won the grand prize in the 31st Shōgi Pen Club Taishō Kanseki Division awards.

Shiratori was initially ashamed of being a light novel writer and for a time used a false profile that changed his name, hometown, and birth date. After his mother and grandfather passed away in 2015 and 2016 respectively, he rectified his author profile, feeling that lying about his identity would mean denying the lives of the family members who raised him. He has been married since 2017 and has one child. As of 2018, he lived in Nagoya, having moved from his hometown of Tajimi.