There’s a sense of the unexpected, or the mundane, that’s transformed into something extraordinary. I remember thinking I’d never read short stories quite like these before.

Ahead of the release of Murakami’s latest, Killing Commendatore, next month, Kidd walked us through how he conceived ten of his most iconic covers. One time, and one time only, the author gently suggested in an email that he start over from scratch. Murakami, though, is almost always pleased with the results. Often it comes together quickly occasionally, he’s struggled.

Kidd’s process is highly intuitive and unique to each project. “It’s almost like he’s the Japanese Clark Kent,” mused Kidd, who also designed the cover for Superman: The Complete History, “because he’s so mild-mannered, but what he does is so incredibly powerful.” Over the 25 years they’ve worked together, Kidd and Murakami have become friends. Kidd has designed some of the most iconic book covers in the world - see: Jurassic Park - but his covers for Murakami hold a special place in his heart. As Murakami once put it, a sense of “inimitable, cozy alienation” hangs over each of Kidd’s book covers - a description that also applies to Murakami’s best novels. All have a tinge of the surreal and a sense of mystery, and since 1993, all of them are the work of Chip Kidd, an associate art director at Knopf who insists he has no style, though everything he touches is very, very stylish. Some of the covers are simple illustrations or collages, others are complex objects, layered with cutouts revealing illustrations hidden behind the dust jacket. Survey the first edition hardback covers of Haruki Murakami’s books throughout the years, and you’ll see a dazzling array of designs and motifs as unique and varied as the content of the writer’s stories.

Murakami sweetheart