Haruki Murakami unveils his new short story at a Tokyo literary event

'It's freshly made, only about 10 days ago,' Murakami told the audience, adding that he wrote the new short story 'Kaho' for the fundraising event in Tokyo. Photo: AP

Only 1,100 lucky audience members were there to hear the yet-to-be published short story Kaho, read aloud by bestselling Japanese author Haruki Murakami himself.

The reading took place at a Friday night book event called "The Owl Reads In Spring" - a fundraiser for the Waseda International House of Literature library at Murakami's alma mater in Tokyo, also featuring award-winning author Mieko Kawakami.