“I’m free, I think. I shut my eyes and think hard and deep about how free I am, but I can’t really understand what it means. All I know is I’m totally alone. All alone in an unfamiliar place, like some solitary explorer who’s lost his compass and his map. Is this what it means to be free?”

Japanese writer

Haruki Murakami is a Japanese writer known for his novels, essays, and short stories. His work has reached readers in Japan and far beyond, and he has received many major literary awards. Murakami’s books have been best-sellers, with translations in 50 languages and millions of copies sold outside Japan. His honors include the Gunzo Prize for New Writers, the World Fantasy Award, the Tanizaki Prize, the Yomiuri Prize for Literature, the Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award, the Noma Literary Prize, the Franz Kafka Prize, the Kiriyama Prize for Fiction, the Goodreads Choice Awards for Best Fiction, the Jerusalem Prize, and the Princess of Asturias Awards.