This year's Auckland Writers Festival has been a record-breaking with the event becoming full of more than 60,000 seats and estimated 20 percent raised in tickets. About 150 participants have celebrated the 5-day festival with literary giant Haruki Murakami, Japanese author known for his bestselling novels "Kafka on the Shore" and "The Wind-up Bird Chronicle."

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One of the festival's honors, according to Anne O'Brien, the director of the writers festival in a statement from the official website of the 2015 Auckland Writers Festival, is the session of the literary giant Haruki Murakami. O'Brien also said in the statement that people around the world travelled to see Murakami. For the record, it was the only Southern Hemisphere festival appearance of Murakami.

The director said that Murakami's session in the festival was life changing. "One audience member said Murakami's session was 'life changing' and another said it was 'unrivalled in its inspiration'. We are so honoured that Murakami chose to come to the Auckland Writers Festival," O'Brien said in a statement.

O'Brien said that the acceptance of Murakami was an honor. "Haruki Murakami is a literary superstar and someone continually invited to Festivals around the world but little seen.  His attendance is a wonderful coup for Auckland and New Zealand," the director said in a statement.

The writers festival also had the performance of David Walliam and the creator of "The Adventures of Captain Underpants" Dav Pilkey.

The 2015 Auckland Writers Festival, May 13-17 event in New Zealand, has broken all the records, enriching the country's books and the culture of writing, according to Anne O'Brien. "More people came to more sessions and there were thousands of new faces.  This has been the most astonishing five days. The laughter, energy, ideas, conversations, tears and joy from the audience and the writers has been remarkable," O'Brien said in a statement.

TagsWriter Festival, Auckland Writers Festival, record-breaking, life-changing Haruki Murakami, Haruki Murakami, Haruki Murakami writers festival, Haruki Murakami in Auckland