Murakami wins International Catalunya Prize

[caption id="attachment_10867" align="alignright" width="400" caption="Artur Mas presents the award to Haruki Murakami"][/caption]

Japanese author Haruki Murakami has been awarded the prestigious Premi Internacional Catalunya 2011 at a ceremony in Barcelona.

The jury of the prize decided by absolute majority to award the 23th Premi Internacional Catalunya 2011 to writer Haruki Murakami.

The Premi Internacional Catalunya, awarded by the Generalitat of Catalonia, is endowed with an award of 80,000 euros and the sculpture La clau i la lletra (The key and the Letter) by Antoni Tàpies. It is awarded annually to any person whose creative work has made a significant contribution to the development of cultural, scientific or human values anywhere in the world.

The president of the Generalitat, Artur Mas, presented the award to Murakami during a ceremony at the Palau de la Generalitat in Barcelona on 9th June.

Read more about Haruki Murakami

Murakami's acceptance speech was widely reported in the international press:

Read report and watch video of award: NHK World

Read report: Bangkok Times