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Japanese writer Haruki Murakami has been awarded the Premio Princesa de Asturias de las Letras 2023, a Spanish literature award that is handed out annually and which aims to recognise “scientific, technical, cultural, social and humanitarian work carried out by individuals, institutions, groups of individuals or institutions in the international field”.

 

This year, 37 candidates from 17 nationalities were nominated, including British writer Julian Barnes, French writer Pierre Michon, Italian writer Erri de Luca and Spanish writer Javier Cercas.

 

The final winner was Murakami, author of such novels as Norwegian Wood, Kafka on the Shore and, more recently, IQ84.

 

While Murakami won in the ‘Literature’ category, the winner of the ‘Arts’ category was Meryl Streep, for giving “life to full and complex feminine characters which inspire reflection and a critical spirit in the spectator.”

 

The first Japanese author to win the Princess of Asturias Award for Letters in its 43rd edition, Murakami joins a list of winners that includes, among others, Günter Grass, Arthur Miller, Doris Lessing, Susan Sontag, Paul Auster, Margaret Atwood, Mario Vargas Llosa, Miguel Delibes, Carlos Fuentes, Leonard Cohen, Philip Roth and Richard Ford.

 

 

Image: @Newscom/AlamyFotoStock/Fundación Princesa de Asturias