And in the blue corner... we have Haruki Murakami, whose early novels were translated and published in the US, and has also taught at several American universities.  He can make writing about a triathlon interesting (and even profound), something that the other Nobel Prize in Literature contenders have not, as far as I am aware, attempted.

We have also recently acquired two of his early novels in English translation, Pinball, 1973 and Hear the Wind Sing, which were published as part of the Kodansha English Library.

[MJS]