Hungarian László Krasznahorkai, best known for his 1985 book Satantango, is the recipient of this year’s prestigious Nobel Prize in literature.
After three days of Nobel prizes honouring work in the sciences, the literature award was announced by the Nobel Committee at the Swedish Academy on Thursday.
Krasznahorkai’s dystopian novels have won numerous prizes, including the 2019 National Book award for translated literature and the 2015 Man Booker International prize. Several of his works, including his novels Satantango and The Melancholy of Resistance, have been adapted into feature films.
Other authors tipped to win the award included Norwegian Wood writer Haruki Murakami, Canadian novelist Margaret Atwood, British-American author Salman Rushdie and Chinese avant-garde writer Can Xue.
Each year, thousands of members of academies, university professors, scientists, previous Nobel Prize laureates and members of parliamentary assemblies are asked to submit candidates for the Nobel Prizes. The names of the nominees cannot be revealed until 50 years later.
Last year, the prize went to Han Kang, a South Korean author best known internationally for the novels The Vegetarian and Human Acts. Han was chosen by the Nobel committee for her “intense poetic prose that confronts historical traumas and exposes the fragility of human life”.
Each prize carries an award of 11 million Swedish kronor (£870,000). The winners also receive an 18-carat gold medal and a diploma.
The Nobel prize in literature has been awarded 121 times since 1901. Recent laureates include Annie Ernaux, Bob Dylan, Abdulrazak Gurnah, Louise Glück, Peter Handke and Olga Tokarczuk.
It has long faced criticism that it is too focused on European and North American writers of style-heavy, story-light prose. It has also been male-dominated, with just 18 women among its laureates.
The winner of the Nobel Peace Prize will be announced on Friday. US President Donald Trump is considered a long shot despite recently telling United Nations delegates, “everyone says that I should get the Nobel Peace Prize.”
More to follow….
