Japanese writer Haruki Murakami to publish new novel

Japanese writer Haruki Murakami will publish his new novel in February next year, his publisher Shinchosha said on Wednesday.

Shinchosha did not reveal details of the book's title or plot, but said it will be long, EFE news reported.

This will be the celebrated author's first long novel after "Colourless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage", which hit Japanese shelves in April 2013.

The new work, set to be Murakami's 14th novel, will be published in two volumes as the manuscript had 2,000 pages, Shinchosha said.

Last year, the author of the acclaimed novel "Norwegian Wood" published "Men Without Women", a collection of six short stories comprising one new story and five that were previously published in a literary magazine.

During a recent ceremony in Denmark, Murakami revealed he was writing a new novel and said it will be longer than "Kafka on the Shore" but shorter than "1Q84", reported Japanese newspaper Asahi on November 22.

--IANS

py/dg