This Is Why He's Hot

Haruki Murakami on accepting the $10,000 Jerusalem Prize, Israel's highest literary honor for foreign writers: "When I was asked to accept this award I was warned from coming here because of the fighting in Gaza...I asked myself — is visiting Israel the proper thing to do? Will I be supporting one side. I gave is it some thought. And I decided to come. Like most novelists, I like to do exactly the opposite of what I'm told. Novelists can't trust anything they haven't seen with their own eyes or touched with heir own hands. So I chose to see. I chose to speak here rather than say nothing."
To read what Murakami chose to say, click here.

Related: Wendell Edwards' review of Murakami's Norwegian Wood.