Best-selling Japanese author Haruki Murakami is following in the footsteps of Simone de Beauvoir, Milan Kundera and Arthur Miller by accepting the most prestigious literary prize given to foreigners in Israel.

On February 15, Murakami, who is behind such works as “Norwegian Wood,” “A Wild Sheep Chase” and “Kafka on the Shore,” will appear at the opening ceremony of the Jerusalem International Book Fair, where Mayor Nir Barkat and President Shimon Peres will present him with the Jerusalem Prize for the Freedom of the Individual in Society. The ceremony will mark the first time the prize has gone to a writer in a non-European language, and the decision to honor him was “made out of profound esteem for his artistic achievements and love of people,” in the words of festival organizers.

The author of 20 books translated into 40 languages, Murakami has had five novels appear on best-seller lists in Israel. On the festival’s Web site, he is described as “one of the more widely-read” foreign writers in Israel.

Forwarding the News

Thoughtful, balanced reporting from the Forward and around the web, bringing you updated news and analysis each day.

Terms(Required)

I agree to the Forward's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Email(Required)

Previous winners of the Jerusalem Prize, given biennially, include Mario Vargas Llosa, Graham Greene and Susan Sontag. In publicity materials for the event, festival organizers tout their own good taste, noting that four Jerusalem Prize recipients — Bertrand Russell, Octavio Paz, V.S. Naipaul and J.M. Coetzee — later won the Nobel Prize in literature.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

$36 $500

$120 $180 Other amount