Ryū Murakami

Ryū Murakami
Ryū Murakami in 2005
Born	February 19, 1952 (1952-02-19) (age 57) Sasebo, Nagasaki, Japan
Occupation	Author, Novelist, Film-maker
Nationality	Japanese

Ryū Murakami (村上 龍, Murakami Ryū^?, born 19 February 1952 in Sasebo, Nagasaki) is a Japanese novelist and filmmaker. He is called 'Maradona in Japanese literature'.

Biography

Born as Ryūnosuke Murakami (村上 龍之介).

Works

Murakami's first work, the short novel Almost Transparent Blue, written while he was still a student of Musashino Art University, deals with promiscuity and drug use among disaffected Japanese youth. Critically acclaimed as a new style of literature, it won the newcomer's literature prize in 1976 despite some observers decrying it as decadent. Later the same year, Blue won the Akutagawa Prize, going on to become a best seller. In 1980, Murakami published the much longer novel Coin Locker Babies, again to critical acclaim.

His novel Audition was adapted into a feature film by Takashi Miike. Murakami reportedly liked it so much he gave Miike his blessing to adapt Coin Locker Babies. The screen play was worked on by director Jordan Galland. However, Miike could not raise funding for the project. An adaptation directed by Michele Civetta is currently in production [1].

Murakami has played drums for a rock group called Coelacanth and hosted a TV talk show.

Selected bibliography

Filmography