Haruki Murakami to Release a Novel After 6 Years

Murakami is known for being a hermit, but in recent years, the author has thrilled admirers by working as a radio DJ part-time.

on Feb 02, 2023

This April will see the publication of celebrated Japanese novelist Haruki Murakami's first new book in six years, publisher Shinchosha Publishing said on Wednesday.

The new book, Murakami's first novel since "Killing Commendatore," was released in February 2017 but was not provided much information.

Shinchosha offered a brief statement in Japanese in which he said the new book would be released on April 13, but he did not mention its title or the specifics of its narrative.

The e-book edition of the work by the 74-year-old Japanese novelist, who has long been considered a contender for the Nobel Prize in Literature, will be released on the same day and will cost 2,970 ($22) per copy, according to Shinchosha.

The publisher stated that it could not predict when the book's identity would be revealed or even when translations of the book may be published.

The publisher also stated that although the title length would be 1,200 Japanese text pages, the precise number of book pages has not yet been determined.

The surrealist writings of globally acclaimed author Murakami, translated into almost 50 languages, have gained him a cult following.

Readers are pulled into the "Murakami universe," where mackerel falls from the sky, and huge frogs engage in combat with salarymen.

Murakami is known for being a hermit, but in recent years, the author has thrilled admirers by working as a radio DJ part-time.

And in 2021, a massive new library at Waseda University in Tokyo, complete with a copy of the author's spare workplace, a café, and a radio studio, opened up with all of his novels, scrapbooks, and vinyl records inside.

Major Tokyo bookshops stayed open late for "Killing Commendatore's" 2017 publication so that excited readers could get their hands on the book right away.

To honor Murakami's wish for "readers to discover it without knowing anything ahead," Shinchosha remarked at the time, the plot's specifics were withheld.