The Nobel Prize in Literature Has Been Awarded

Today, the Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded to Norwegian novelist and playwright Jon Fosse. Fosse’s work has been highly acclaimed across Europe, and is gaining more and more of an audience in English-speaking portions of the world.

The Nobel Prize in Literature is awarded for entire bodies of work, and Fosse’s win comes as a result of his “innovative plays and prose which give voice to the unsayable.” His work spans genres, is written in Norwegian Nynorsk, and includes everything from plays to novels and children’s books.

He joins other laureates like Toni Morrison and Kazuo Ishiguro in the honor, and will receive 11 million Swedish krona ($991,000) and most likely a boost to book sales.

The Nobel Prize is named for Alfred Nobel, a writer, entrepreneur, and scientist whose will helped establish the award. Since 1901, Nobel Prizes have been awarded to people from all over the world “for outstanding achievements in physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, literature and for work in peace.”

Find more news and stories of interest from the book world in Breaking in Books.