Haruki Murakami 2023 Princess of Asturias Award for Literature

At its meeting in Oviedo, the Jury for the 2023 Princess of Asturias Award for Literature, composed of Xosé Ballesteros Rey, Blanca Berasátegui Garaizábal, Anna Caballé Masforroll, Gonzalo Celorio Blasco, Jesús García Calero, José Luis García Delgado, Pablo Gil Cuevas, Francisco Goyanes Martínez, Lola Larumbe Doral, Juan Mayorga Ruano, Carmen Millán Grajales, Leonardo Padura Fuentes, José María Pou Serra, Fernando Rodríguez Lafuente, Ana Santos Aramburo, Jaime Siles Ruiz, Anne-Hélène Suárez Girard, Juan Villoro Ruiz, chaired by Santiago Muñoz Machado and with Sergio Vila-Sanjuán Robert acting as secretary, has unanimously decided to confer the 2023 Princess of Asturias Award for Literature on Japanese writer Haruki Murakami.

The Jury has considered the uniqueness of his literature, its universal scope and ability to reconcile Japanese tradition and the legacy of Western culture in an ambitious and innovative narrative, which has managed to express some of the great themes and conflicts of our time: loneliness, existential uncertainty, terrorism and dehumanization in big cities, as well as the care of one’s body and his own reflections on the creative process. Expressed in different genres, his voice has influenced considerably diverse generations. Haruki Murakami is one of contemporary literature’s major long-distance runners.

Oviedo, 24th May 2023