Who wrote 'What I Talk About When I Talk About Running'?

"What I Talk About When I Talk About Running" is a memoir by the Japanese novelist Haruki Murakami, first published in Japanese in 2007 and in English in 2008.

About the book:

• It is a collection of essays in which Murakami writes about his long-distance running, his training for marathons and triathlons, and how running connects with his life as a writer.
• He explains that he began running seriously in 1982, around the time he closed his jazz bar in Tokyo to become a full-time novelist.
• He describes running as a way of building physical stamina, discipline and focus, which he believes are also needed for writing long novels.
• The title is inspired by Raymond Carver's short-story collection "What We Talk About When We Talk About Love".

About Haruki Murakami:

• He was born in 1949 in Kyoto, Japan.
• His novels often combine everyday life with surreal and dreamlike elements, and they are influenced by Western music and literature.

His famous novels include "Norwegian Wood" (1987), "The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle" (1994-95), "Kafka on the Shore" (2002), "1Q84" (2009-10), "Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage" (2013) and "The City and Its Uncertain Walls" (2023).

His early works include "Hear the Wind Sing" (1979) and "A Wild Sheep Chase" (1982).

He has won many international literary awards, including the Franz Kafka Prize (2006) and the Jerusalem Prize (2009).

Other Japanese and Japan-born writers:

• Kazuo Ishiguro: Japan-born British novelist; "The Remains of the Day" (Booker Prize 1989), "Never Let Me Go"; Nobel Prize in Literature (2017).
• Yasunari Kawabata: "Snow Country"; Japan's first Nobel laureate in Literature (1968).
• Kenzaburo Oe: Nobel Prize in Literature (1994).

Why not the other options?

• ✗Kazuo Ishiguro wrote "The Remains of the Day".
• ✗Yasunari Kawabata wrote "Snow Country".
• ✗Paulo Coelho is a Brazilian writer who wrote "The Alchemist".