"shakugan no shana" began as a light novel series written by yashichiro takahashi, with illustrations drawn by noizi ito. ascii media works published 26 volumes between november 9, 2002 and november 10, 2012 under their dengeki bunko imprint; 22 comprise the main story, while the other four are side story collections. a short story was later published in the september 2017 issue of ascii media works' "dengeki bunko magazine". viz media licensed the novels for english distribution in north america, but they only released two volumes in 2007. the novels are also licensed in south korea by daewon c.i., and in taiwan and hong kong by kadokawa media.