The Japanese author Haruki Murakami made his international breakthrough with Norwegian Wood (1986) and has since written a myriad of novels that have captivated readers all over the world. His quirky, often surreal literary universe and easily accessible language mix mystery and everydayness, melancholy and humour, and Western and Japanese culture. A Danish translation of his debut short story A Slow Boat to China will be published in May, and August will see the publication of the collection of short stories Mysteries of Tokyo. Meanwhile, Japanese readers can look forward to his first major novel in six years when The City and its Uncertain Walls is published on 13 April in the author’s home country.

Murakami first got the idea of becoming a writer at a baseball game in Tokyo on a spring day in 1978. “I was watching the match, and the moment the first batter hit a double, I got the feeling that I could write. Maybe I’d had too much beer – I don’t know – but it was suddenly like I was experiencing some kind of epiphany,” Murakami has said. The following year saw the publication of his debut novel, Hear the Wind Sing. Since then, his works have sold millions of copies and been translated into more than 50 languages.

Haruki Murakami (b. 1949) is regarded as one of the most popular Japanese writers of all time. He has won numerous international awards, most recently the Prix mondial Cinco Del Duca (2022), the America Award in Literature (2018) and the Hans Christian Andersen Literature Prize (2016). There have also been several successful film adaptations of Murakami stories, including Norwegian Wood (2010), Burning (2018) and the Oscar-winning Drive My Car (2021).