\Even as a son of two literature teachers, Haruki Marukami did not even consider the prospect of writing until an epiphany in his mid 20's. He was at a game for his favorite baseball team the Swallows, when the thought of writing a novel fell from the heavens and into his lap. At the time he and his wife were owners of a coffee shop in Kokubunji, so the writing of his novel took many months of nights after work, spent into the hours of dawn laboring over his first novella. An extremely amateur writer, he had no prior experience with writing anything to that length, so he struggled profusely with creating a story that flowed the way that he intended in his native language of Japanese. Even when he had finally finished, he was unsatisfied, "it was somewhat boring, and the book as a whole left me cold." When he began work on writing his second novel, he tried a different approach. Though he spoke English, his knowledge of the language was quite limited, and could only convey basic concepts in the tongue. He decided to write the novel in English, and then translate it into Japanese, in order to mold himself into a more simple and unique writing style that would set him apart as an author forever. This second book, "Hear the Wind Sing" would later on win the Gunzo new writers prize, and kickstart Marukami to sell his coffee house and persue writing full time. Today, he is adored and commands an almost cult like following. Thousands across the world have been encaptrured by this simple man, and his talent of using simple language and word choice to paint worlds of imagination and philosophy for his readers.
