Person

Ryu Murakami

1. Japanese novelist Ryu Murakami, author of 'Almost Transparent Blue' and 'Coin Locker Babies', dies at 74

   Japanese publisher Gentosha announced on Friday, Oct 23, that novelist Ryu Murakami had died aged 74; his work dealt with sex, violence and youth culture and has been translated around the world. His debut 'Almost Transparent Blue', about young people immersed in drugs and sex, won one of Japan's most prestigious literary prizes in 1976; 'Coin Locker Babies' (1980) tells how children abandoned in coin lockers survive, and 'In the Miso Soup' (1997) follows a tourist into Tokyo's red-light district. Gentosha called him 'a front-runner of an era'.

   Oct 24, 2026 Morning