Haruki Murakami Receives Sheikh Zayed Book Award Honor
The Japanese author has been named Cultural Personality of the Year.
Global best-selling Japanese author Haruki Murakami has been named the Cultural Personality of the Year for the 2025 Sheikh Zayed Book Award.
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Murakami will receive the honor at a ceremony during the 2025 Abu Dhabi International Book Fair, which will run from Apr. 26 to May 5.
The Abu Dhabi Arabic Language Centre, the organization that administers the award, said in a statement, "His literature is characterised by its universality, expressing human concerns that transcend cultural boundaries, with a unique blend of Japanese literature and international influences."
The statement also read, "His writings are renowned for their ability to explore issues of identity, belonging and individual freedom in a distinctive narrative style that combines realism and fantasy."
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Haruki Murakami is known for his novels 'Norwegian Woods' and 'Kafka on the Shore' and he has received various accolades for his work including the Gunzo Prize for New Writers, the World Fantasy Award, and the Tanizaki Prize.
Murakami will receive a gold medal, a certificate of appreciation, and a one million dirham cash prize for this Cultural Personality award.
Sheikh Zayed Book Award 2025
Here are the winners in other categories of the award:
- Literature: Lebanese–French author Hoda Barakat for Hind or the Most Beautiful Woman in the World
- Children's literature: Moroccan writer Latifa Labsir for The Phantom of Dabiha
- Translation: Italian translator Marco Di Branco for Orsious
- Contribution to the Development of Nations: Emirati academic Mohammed Bechari for The Right to Strive: Perspectives on Muslim Women’s Rights
- Arab Culture in Other Languages: UK researcher Andrew Peacock for Arabic Literary Culture in Southeast Asia in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries.
All winners will receive an AED 750,000 cash prize, a gold medal, and a certificate of appreciation.