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Haruki Murakami

One of the most popular Japanese authors of the late 20th and early 21st century, Haruki Murakami addressed issues of loneliness, lack of connection and long-simmering pain in the lives of his protagonists as a means of understanding the traumas suffered and inflicted by the Japanese people throughout history. Throughout his career, Murakami used a variety of frameworks, from science fiction and fantasy to non-fiction and straightforward narrative, to explore these themes, which have generated overwhelmingly positive response from readers both in Japan and the West. His most popular novels, including Hear the Wind Sing (1979), Norwegian Wood (1987), Kafka on the Shore (2002) and IQ84 (2009), have made him a favorite among young adult readers, who have responded to his works in the same manner as the novels of J.D. Salinger - as a sort of interpreter of youthful angst and alienation. Murakami's body of work represents a high-water mark in modern fiction, as well as an insightful and affecting voice for the disenfranchised and the dispossessed around the world.