Aug 4, 2015

HEAR THE WIND SING AND PINBALL - Haruki Murakami

The two novellas are Haruki Murakami’s earliest novels and are now published for the first time outside of Japan in English. The texts are printed back to back with one upside down, allowing for two front covers.

PINBALL

Murakami’s protagonist is obsessed with playing pinball. He says “All things should have both an entrance and an exit. That’s just the way it is.” This quote was key to the design approach. The pinball deck, illustrated by La Boca is printed in silver foil. In its first edition, the book will have an unusual deep die-cut through the cover and boards to the endpapers.  

WIND

In the other novella, Hear the Wind Sing the narrator is home from college on his summer break. The imagery on the cover hints at his preoccupations and the drifting leaves suggest the sadness of the end of the summer. The die-cut here is smaller and falls within the off centre record.

To celebrate the publication of Wind/Pinball by Haruki Murakami, we have created two bespoke pinball machines placed in two Waterstones stores - the London Picadilly branch and the other in Glasgow Sauchiehall Street. North and South will go head-to-head all week in a pinball battle for the highest score. You can play for free and share your scores on social media using the hashtag #murakamipinball. The highest scorers of each day will win a copy of Wind/Pinball signed by the author.

Wind/Pinball is published by Harvill Secker and is out today.

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