Murakami in Jerusalem

Haruki Murakami, one of my all time favourite novelists, has been awarded the Jerusalem Prize, to be presented during the city's International Book Fair next month. According to the website for the Book Fair, the prize is traditionally awarded to "authors whose writings have expressed the ideal of the individual's freedom in society". Which sounds like a fair fit for much of Murakami's work.

Murakami, an intensely private person - he actually left Japan to live in the United States for a while in the 1980s, horrified by the success of his bestseller Norweigien Wood - has been known to skip award ceremonies in the past, but has apparently indicated that he will be turning up for this one. Which is nice. I'm a bit of a groupie when it comes to famous writers, and I think I'm going to see whose arms need to be twisted so I can get a ticket for the event...