Murakami accuses editor over manuscript

Writer Haruki Murakami in the March issue of a monthly magazine accused one of his editors of selling several of his manuscripts to bookstores without his permission.

The accusation has raised questions in the publishing industry as to who has ownership rights to manuscripts and whether such unpublished writings should be on the market at all.

In the article, Murakami, the noted author and translator whose most recent novel is "Kafka on the Shore," described the behavior of the now-deceased editor, who was a longtime acquaintance, as a type of theft.

More from Arata Sugimoto in The Japan Times.