Haruki Murakami was born in Kyoto, Japan, January 12, 1949; age 69 years) is the best-selling Japanese writer. [1] His work in fiction and non-fiction has received many critic claims as well as numerous awards, both in Japan and abroad, including the World Fantasy Award (2006) and Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award (2006), while all of his work earned pernghargaan at Franz Kafka Prize (2006) and Jerusalem Prize (2009). Murakami has also translated a number of his works in English. Important works such as A Wild Sheep Chase (1982), Norwegian Wood (1987), The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle (1994-1995), Kafka on the Shore (2002), and 1Q84 (2009-2010).
Murakami's fictional work, often criticized by the Literature of the Japanese Literature, as a surrealistic and nihilistic work, characterized by the Kafkaesque mannerisms with the theme of solitude and seclusion. [2] Haruki Murakami is seen as an important person in modern literature. Steven Poole of The Guardian praised Murakami as "among the world's best living novelists" for his work and accomplishments