Haruki Murakami

Japanese novelist who has created a distinctive literary world combining Japanese quietude with Western surrealism — the most internationally successful Japanese novelist since the war.

Norwegian Wood: straightforward narrative of loss and longing — his most accessible and bestselling novel. Kafka on the Shore: two parallel narratives, magical realism, Oedipal myth. The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle: a man's search through the underworld of Japanese identity and wartime history. 1Q84: alternative reality Tokyo. Distinctive register: jazz, solitude, cooking, cats, and the inexplicable.