Haruki Murakami

Who is Haruki Murakami?

Haruki Murakami is a contemporary Japanese writer. Murakami is translated into 50 languages and his best-selling books have been published in millions of copies. His works of fiction and non-fiction have garnered critical acclaim and numerous awards, both in Japan and internationally, including the World Fantasy Award and the Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award, while his whole oeuvre garnered the Franz Kafka Prize and the Jerusalem Prize, among others. Murakami has also translated a number of English works into Japanese. His most notable works include A Wild Sheep Chase, Norwegian Wood, The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, Kafka on the Shore, and 1Q84.

Murakami's fiction, often criticized by Japan's literary establishment, is frequently surrealistic and nihilistic, marked by a Kafkaesque rendition of themes of loneliness and alienation. He is considered an important figure in postmodern literature. Steven Poole of The Guardian praised Murakami as "among the world's greatest living novelists" for his works and achievements.