called harukists had gathered at a cafe in tokyo with bottles of champagne for a celebration hours before the announcement after the swedish academy awarded the nobel to canadian author alice munro harukists across the globe went into mourning ask philip if he too was part of the harukists club and he says of course it would be a great accomplishment if murakami wins the nobel but i dont think that is the ultimate yardstick for judging a writer murakami is more focused on exploring new areas i have been devoted to his writing since i first read it in 1986 as a reader and translator i look forward to new and exciting works rather than new prizes about the translator j philip gabriel professor of east asian studies at the university of arizona has translated major works by haruki murakami including kafka on the shore for which he was awarded the penbookofthemonth club translation prize south of the border west of the sun 1q84 book 3 and blind willow sleeping woman with jay rubin among others philip gabriel has also translated works by nobel prizewinner kenzabur e shimada masahiko kuroi senji yoshimura akira oe kenzaburo and yoshida shuichi philips translation of one of yoshidas books titled parade released this month in the ukcolorless tsukuru tazaki and his years of pilgrimage will be available in hardback and ebook harvill seckervintage books on 12th august 2014originally published on march 06 2014