Japanese author Haruki Murakami is set to release his first novel in three years this July, according to his publisher. Titled The Tale of KAHO, the book will be published in Japan by Shinchosha on 3 July, with an e-book edition available the same day.
Plot and Protagonist
The 352-page novel centers on a 26-year-old picture book author named Kaho, as reported by Kyodo News. This marks Murakami's first full-length work featuring a woman as the sole protagonist. The story follows Kaho after a mysterious encounter with a male stranger who tells her: “To be honest, I have never seen anyone as ugly as you.” Kaho, described as “neither outstandingly beautiful nor smart” but possessing a “rather strong curiosity,” reacts with surprise rather than anger, asking herself, “What is this man trying to tell me?”
Origins and Translation
The novel is a reworked version of Murakami's four-part “Kaho” series, originally serialized in the literary magazine Shincho between June 2024 and March 2026. An early instalment, translated into English by Philip Gabriel, appeared in The New Yorker in 2024. In an interview with The New York Times in February, Murakami revealed sparse details, noting that he had “recently finished” the book and that it was “currently being translated into English.”
Personal Resurrection
Murakami wrote much of the novel after recovering from a serious illness that left him hospitalized for a month and caused him to lose over 18kg. “It’s kind of a resurrection,” he said. “I came back.” He described the story as “more optimistic” than his previous work and noted that writing from a woman’s perspective felt surprisingly natural. “I became her,” he said. He declined to reveal plot details, adding only that “many strange things happen to her, around her.”
Career and Previous Work
The Tale of KAHO is Murakami's first novel since The City and Its Uncertain Walls, released in April 2023. Murakami is one of the world's most widely read contemporary novelists, with works including Norwegian Wood, The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, Kafka on the Shore, and 1Q84. His oeuvre spans novels, short stories, and essays, translated into around 50 languages. Over four decades, he has been a perennial candidate for the Nobel Prize in Literature and has received major honours such as the Franz Kafka Prize (2006), the Hans Christian Andersen Literature Award (2016), and Spain's Princess of Asturias Award for Literature (2023).
