Koji Suzuki was born in 1957 in Hamamatsu, southwest of Tokyo. He attended Keio University where he majored in French. After graduating he held numerous odd jobs, including a stint as a cram school teacher – an unorthodox one who loved telling scary stories to entertain his students. He holds a first-class yachting licence and has crossed the US from Key West to Los Angeles on his motorcycle.
The father of two daughters, Suzuki is a respected authority on childrearing and has written numerous works on the subject. He acquired his expertise when he was still a struggling writer and househusband. Suzuki also has translated a children’s book into Japanese, The Little Sod Diaries by the crime novelist Simon Brett.
In 1990 Suzuki’s first full-length work Rakuen (Paradise), won the Japanese Fantasy Novel Award and launched his career as a fiction writer. Ring, written with a baby on his lap, catapulted him to fame, selling 2.3 million copies in Japan alone, and the sequels Spiral and Loop cemented his reputation as a world-class talent. Often called the ‘Stephen King of Japan’, Suzuki has played a crucial role in establishing mainstream credentials for horror novels in his own country. He is based in Tokyo, but loves to travel.
