English The Permanent Secretary Press release 6 October 2011 The Nobel Prize in Literature 2011 Tomas Tranströmer The Nobel Prize in Literature for 2011 is awarded to the Swedish poet Tomas Tranströmer “because, through his condensed, translucent images, he gives us fresh access to reality”.

Swedish Academy The Permanent Secretary Press release October 1983 The Nobel Prize in Literature 1983 William Golding William Golding’s first novel, Lord of the Flies, 1954, rapidly became a world success and has so remained. It has reached readers who can be numbered in tens of millions. In other words, the book was a bestseller,…

Swedish Academy The Permanent Secretary Press release October 1984 The Nobel Prize in Literature 1984 Jaroslav Seifert Jaroslav Seifert – a Czechoslovakian poet, 83 years young, can look back upon a career of more than 60 years which shows many signs of being likely to continue. With almost thirty volumes of collected poems behind him,…

Swedish Academy The Permanent Secretary Press release October 19, 1989 The Nobel Prize in Literature 1989 Camilo José Cela This year’s Nobel Prize for literature goes to the Spanish writer Camilo José Cela. With him is rewarded the leading figure in Spain’s literary renewal during the postwar era. The background of Cela’s experience is the…

Swedish Academy The Permanent Secretary Press release The Nobel Prize in Literature 1975 With his very first collection of poems, Ossi di seppia (Bones of the Cuttlefish, 1925), the then 29-year-old Eugenio Montale was ready to uphold his place in Italian poetry. As his work gradually became known outside his own country, he staked the…

English The Permanent Secretary Press release 12 October 2000 The Nobel Prize for Literature 2000 Gao Xingjian The Nobel Prize in Literature for 2000 goes to the Chinese writer Gao Xingjian “for an œuvre of universal validity, bitter insights and linguistic ingenuity, which has opened new paths for the Chinese novel and drama”. In the…

Swedish Academy The Permanent Secretary Press release The Nobel Prize in Literature 1976 When Saul Bellow published his first book, the time had come for a change of climate and generation in American narrative art. The so-called hard-boiled style, with its virile air and choppy prose, had now slackened into an everyday routine, which was…

Swedish Academy The Permanent Secretary Press release October 7, 1993 The Nobel Prize in Literature 1993 Toni Morrison “who, in novels characterized by visionary force and poetic import, gives life to an essential aspect of American reality.” “My work requires me to think about how free I can be as an African-American woman writer in…

English The Permanent Secretary Press release 13 October 2005 The Nobel Prize in Literature 2005 Harold Pinter The Nobel Prize in Literature for 2005 is awarded to the English writer Harold Pinter “who in his plays uncovers the precipice under everyday prattle and forces entry into oppression’s closed rooms”. The Swedish Academy

Swedish Academy The Permanent Secretary Press release October 13, 1994 The Nobel Prize in Literature 1994 Kenzaburo Oe “who with poetic force creates an imagined world, where life and myth condense to form a disconcerting picture of the human predicament today” Kenzaburo Oe, now 59 years old, is Japanese, the scion of a prominent samurai…