The February issue of Kadokawa's The Sneaker magazine is announcing on Monday that the two volumes of Nagaru Tanigawa's Suzumiya Haruhi no Kyōgaku (The Surprise of Haruhi Suzumiya) light novel will ship on May 25, 2011. According to the announcement, the two volumes will ship simultaneously in Japan and "the world."

This 10th Haruhi Suzumiya light novel story will be the first new one in four years. The last story in the series was Suzumiya Haruhi no Bunretsu , which shipped in 2007. The light novels inspired two television anime seasons, a film, two net anime series, and several manga adaptations.

The Sneaker had said in April that the Kadokawa Sneaker Bunko imprint would publish the next novel within the year. Kadokawa later clarified that "within the year" meant within 12 months of the announcement, not within the year 2010. However, the new May 2011 date is one month later than even the April 2011 deadline Kadokawa had set for itself.

[Via Moe Ota-News Sokuhō]

Update: More background information added.

Update 2: The Kadokawa Group posted on its Twitter account on Saturday that there will be a supplemental handout for The Sneaker which will be distributed in Tokyo's Akihabara district on Monday.

Update 3: The two volumes will have a combined total of about 600 pages. More information about the release will be provided in bookstores and Kadokawa Shoten's website starting on January 29.

There are 6.5 million copies of the novel series in print, and the novels and their three manga adaptations have been translated for release in 13 countries. However, despite the announcement of the worldwide simultaneous release, Kadokawa Shoten has not stated that the latest novel story will be released in all 13 countries simultaneously.

Source: Presepe News

Update 4: Kadokawa Shoten posted a list of frequently asked questions confirming the above information. [Via Uri-Sure Matome R]