The Murakami Haruki Chronicle: Celebrated Author Turns 70
Arts Books Culture
A look back at the career and works of international bestselling author and rumored Nobel Prize candidate Murakami Haruki.
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Internationally acclaimed Japanese author Murakami Haruki turns 70 on January 12, 2019. Regularly touted as a candidate for the Nobel Prize for Literature, Murakami is known for novels that bring together lonely narrators, mysterious happenings, and musical references. His works enjoy broad appeal and have been translated into more than 50 languages.
Murakami Haruki’s Career to Date
| 1949 | Born in Kyoto. |
| 1975 | Graduates from Waseda University with a degree in film and drama. |
| 1979 | Wins the Gunzō Prize for New Writers and nominated for the Akutagawa Prize for his debut novel Hear the Wind Sing. |
| 1980 | Nominated for the Akutagawa Prize for Pinball, 1973. |
| 1981 | Publishes his first Japanese translation, a collection of F. Scott Fitzgerald stories titled Mai rosuto shitī (My Lost City). Consisting mainly of short fiction, it takes its name from the concluding autobiographical essay. |
| 1982 | Wins the Noma Literary Prize for A Wild Sheep Chase. |
| 1985 | Wins the Tanizaki Jun'ichirō Prize for Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World. |
| 1987 | Success of Norwegian Wood propels him to celebrity status in Japan. To date, the novel has sold more than 10 million copies in Japanese. |
| 1996 | Wins the Yomiuri Literature Prize for The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle. |
| 2003 | Publishes a Japanese translation of JD Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye that becomes a best-seller in Japan. |
| 2006 | Wins the Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award for his collection Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman, the World Fantasy Award for Best Novel for Kafka on the Shore, and the Franz Kafka Prize, fueling media speculation about being awarded the Nobel Prize. |
| 2008 | Receives honorary doctorate from Princeton University and wins the inaugural Berkeley Japan Prize awarded by the Center for Japanese Studies at University of California, Berkeley. |
| 2009 | Wins the Mainichi Publishing Culture Award for 1Q84 and awarded the Jerusalem Prize and the Order of Arts and Letters of Spain. |
| 2011 | Wins the International Catalunya Prize. |
| 2016 | Wins the Hans Christian Andersen Literature Award. |
| 2017 | Publishes his latest novel, Killing Commendatore. |
| 2018 | Nominated for the New Academy Prize—established to substitute for the Nobel Prize in Literature, which was not awarded—but chooses to withdraw himself from the running. Announces he will donate manuscripts and other materials to his alma mater Waseda University, which is planning to set up a center for studying his works. |
(Translated from Japanese. Banner photo: Murakami Haruki at a press conference at Waseda University on November 4, 2018. © Jiji.)