Japan's Murakami favourite for Nobel prize -- again
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Japanese literary superstar Haruki Murakami is favourite for this year's Nobel Prize in Literature, betting odds showed Friday, after repeatedly being mentioned as a contender for the prestigious global gong.
Online bookmaker Ladbrokes.com was Friday offering odds of 3-1 on the novelist scooping up the prize, which will be announced in Sweden next month.
Murakami, who has a large and loyal following worldwide, has been a regular nominee for the prize for many years, and was Ladbrokes' top bet at one point last year, when he lost out to China's Mo Yan.
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In the odds offered by Ladbrokes, Murakami is followed by US writer Joyce Carol Oates at 6-1. Peter Nadas from Hungary is the third favourite at 7-1, with South Korean Ko Un and Algerian Assia Djebar tied in fourth at 10-1.
Murakami, who spends much of his time in the United States, is known for writing lyrically and surreally about Japanese who refuse to toe the line in a homogenous society, peppering his works with pop culture references.
His three-volume novel "1Q84" proved a worldwide phenomenon, and non-Japanese-speaking fans are now eagerly waiting for translation of his latest -- "Shikisai wo Motanai Tazaki Tsukuru to Kare no Junrei no Toshi (Colourless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage)" -- expected next year.
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It was released in April in Japanese.
Murakami's latest novel tells the story of a young man struggling with an ordeal in his past, who uses the support offered by a romance to get back on his feet.
Translated into some 40 languages, his works have attracted fans globally with their so-called "Murakami world" -- fantastical scenes such as a giant frog inviting a salaryman into an epic battle, or skies that rain mackerel.