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Prague (dpa) - Acclaimed Japanese novelist Haruki Murakami paused often and smiled uneasily Monday while facing journalists in the hometown of his inspiration, Czech-German writer Franz Kafka.
"This is the first press conference in my life," Murakami told the crowd at a central Prague restaurant. "I didn't expect so many people to come. "I might not do it again."
The private but prolific Murakami, 57, faced reporters before accepting Prague literary club's 2006 Franz Kafka Award, whose past winners include Nobel Prize for Literature recipients Elfriede Jelinek of Austria in 2004 and Harold Pinter of Britain last year.
Murakami was rumoured to be a Nobel candidate this year, although he said in Prague "I haven't heard anything from anyone."
Indeed, as an author whose works have been translated into 39 languages, Murakami called his readers "the real prize to me. I think I have good readers all over the world and I'm very proud."
Popular in Japan and abroad, Murakami has penned more than a dozen novels since 1979. Critics say his story-telling bridges the culture gap between Japan and the West.
His latest work is the 2005 novel Kafka on the Shore, which is about a 15-year-old Japanese boy named Kafka who runs away from home.
Murakami said he was 15 when he was inspired by a book by Prague-born Franz Kafka, an existentialist who explored human struggle and alienation in the early 20th century.
Books by Kafka and Russian novelist Fyodor Dosteoevsky had a powerful influence on Murakami's formative years, he said, although he did not start writing until in his late 20s.
"I owe many things to Franz Kafka," Murakami said.
Bowing to Kafka's skill as a dream-weaver, Murakami said writing a story "is like to dream." "I don't need to dream at night," he said. "I dream in the daylight and I describe it on paper."
Before coming to Prague to accept the award and stroll alleys where Kafka walked, Murakami was teaching at the University of Hawaii.
He said he has no immediate plans for another book but added, "I can feel there's something coming up." The next novel "is going to be rather big" and may take a year or more to compose, he said.
But another press conference is problematic because Murakam said he doesn't want to be recognized on the street. "To write a story is my profession. Talking in public is not."
Copyright 2006 dpa Deutsche Presse-Agentur GmbH
