Haruki Murakami, Philip Gabriel (Translator), Ted Goossen (Translator)

Novelist as a Vocation

An exploration of a writer’s life from the Sunday Times bestselling author

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Summary

A unique look at the craft of writing from a bestselling master of storytelling.

In this engaging book, the internationally best-selling author shares with readers what he thinks about being a novelist; his thoughts on the role of the novel in our society; his own origins as a writer; and his musings on the sparks of creativity that inspire other writers, artists, and musicians.

Readers who have long wondered where the mysterious novelist gets his ideas and what inspires his strangely surreal worlds will be fascinated by this highly personal look at the craft of writing.

'An insightful collection of essays on his work and methods... You end this collection of beautiful essays vowing to never let life, or writing, get so complicated again' Guardian

'Murakami is like a magician who explains what he's doing as he performs the trick and still makes you believe he has supernatural powers' New York Times Book Review

'A fascinating glimpse of the peculiar writerly life' Sunday Times

** A TIMES, SUNDAY TIMES and NEW STATESMAN BOOK OF THE YEAR**

Reviews

Every creative person should read this short book. No rules are laid down, but for those with an open mind there are hints galore and the occasional precept.
Literary Review

About the author

Haruki Murakami

In 1978, Haruki Murakami was twenty-nine and running a jazz bar in downtown Tokyo. One April day, the impulse to write a novel came to him suddenly while watching a baseball game. That first novel, Hear the Wind Sing, won a new writers' award and was published the following year. More followed, including A Wild Sheep Chase and Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World, but it was Norwegian Wood, published in 1987, that turned Murakami from a writer into a phenomenon.

In works such as The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, 1Q84, What I Talk About When I Talk About Running and Men Without Women, Murakami's distinctive blend of the mysterious and the everyday, of melancholy and humour, continues to enchant readers, ensuring his place as one of the world's most acclaimed and well-loved writers.

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