One of the most influential and popular Japanese writers of the late 20th and early 21st centuries

Haruki Murakami is regarded as one of Japan’s most important contemporary authors, internationally celebrated for his distinctive blend of surrealism, postmodernism, popular culture, music, and emotional introspection. His works have been translated into more than forty languages and have earned him a global readership.

Haruki Murakami was born on 12 January 1949 in Kyoto, Japan. His mother was the daughter of a merchant, and his father was a Buddhist priest. Murakami spent much of his youth in Kobe, where he was exposed early to Western literature, jazz, and American culture—elements that would later become central to his literary style.

He completed his university education at Waseda University in Tokyo, where he studied drama and graduated in 1975. During his student years, he met Yoko, who would later become his wife. Murakami developed a strong interest in Western literature at an early age and was deeply influenced by postmodern writers.

In 1971, Murakami married his wife, and after graduating, the couple opened a small jazz bar called Peter Cat, which they ran for seven years beginning in 1975. His passion for music—especially jazz and classical works—became a recurring motif throughout his fiction, often shaping the rhythm, atmosphere, and emotional tone of his narratives.

Murakami’s journey as a novelist began unexpectedly in April 1978 while he was watching a baseball game at Jingu Stadium in Tokyo. In a sudden moment of inspiration, he decided he could write a novel. He went home that very day and began working on what would become his first book.

His debut novel Hear the Wind Sing was published in 1979 and earned him the Gunzou Literary Prize. He went on to receive numerous major awards, including the Tanizaki Prize for Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World (1985), the Noma Prize for New Writers for A Wild Sheep Chase (1989), and the Yomiuri Literary Prize for The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle (2005).

Although Murakami’s surreal and Western-influenced style was immensely popular among Japanese youth, he was often criticized by traditional literary circles for being overly Westernized and detached from classical Japanese aesthetics. Unaffected by criticism, Murakami left Japan in 1986 and moved to New York, where he lived between 1986 and 1995.

While in the United States, Murakami taught at universities and worked on new fiction. During this period, he wrote the novel that would bring him international fame: Norwegian Wood (1987), translated in English as Norwegian Wood. Inspired by The Beatles’ song of the same name, the novel marked his first major realist work and became a global bestseller, translated into sixteen languages and later adapted for cinema.

In 1995, deeply affected by both homesickness and the devastating Kobe earthquake that claimed thousands of lives, Murakami returned to Japan. His later works continued to explore themes of alienation, memory, identity, and the subconscious, further solidifying his place in world literature.

Murakami’s thirteenth novel, Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage, was published in 2013. He has also written travel essays inspired by his journeys through Greece and Turkey, later collected in a book that includes reflections on Turkish culture, food, and landscapes.

Known for his discipline and routine, Haruki Murakami is also an avid long-distance runner. His daily ritual typically includes waking early, writing for four to five hours, running ten kilometers, and spending evenings translating literary works. He regularly participates in marathons and ultra-marathons, viewing running as essential to his creative endurance.

After returning to Japan, Murakami and his wife divided their time between their home in Oiso and a small apartment in a refined district of Tokyo, which he uses as a dedicated writing space. His structured lifestyle reflects the precision and control evident in his prose.

Awards:
1979 – Gunzou Literary Prize – Hear the Wind Sing
1982 – Noma Prize for New Writers – A Wild Sheep Chase
1985 – Tanizaki Prize – Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World
1996 – Yomiuri Literary Prize – The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle
2005 – New York Times Top 10 Books of the Year – Kafka on the Shore
2006 – Frank O’Connor International Short Story Award – Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman
2006 – World Fantasy Award – Kafka on the Shore
2006 – Franz Kafka Prize – Kafka on the Shore
2007 – Kiriyama Prize – Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman
2009 – Jerusalem Prize for the Freedom of the Individual in Society
2011 – Goodreads Choice Award for Best Fiction – 1Q84

Selected Books:
1979 – Hear the Wind Sing
1982 – A Wild Sheep Chase
1985 – Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World
1987 – Norwegian Wood
1995 – The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle
1999 – Sputnik Sweetheart
2002 – Kafka on the Shore
2007 – What I Talk About When I Talk About Running
2013 – Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage
2015 – Novelist as a Vocation

Source: Biyografiler.com