Haruki Murakami

Haruki Murakami, born in Kyoto in 1949, is a Japanese writer. He has written internationally acclaimed novels and short stories that often combine elements of magical realism and surrealism with everyday life. His best-known works include The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, Norwegian Wood, 1Q84 and Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage. Murakami has received the Franz Kafka Prize, the Jerusalem Prize and other Japanese and international literary honors. He also translated works by Raymond Chandler, John Irving, Truman Capote and Raymond Carver into Japanese. He began writing at the age of 30.