STOCKHOLM — After three days of Nobel prizes honoring work in the sciences, the literature award is being announced Thursday by the Nobel Committee at the Swedish Academy.
The winner will follow Norwegian writer Jon Fosse, who was honored last year for writing in Nynorsk, one of the two official written versions of the Norwegian language, that prize organizers said gives “voice to the unsayable.”
The literature prize 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 17 women among its 119 laureates. The last woman to win was Annie Ernaux of France, in 2022.
Six days of Nobel announcements opened Monday with Americans Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun winning the medicine prize. Two founding fathers of machine learning — John Hopfield and Geoffrey Hinton — won the physics prize on Tuesday. On Wednesday, three scientists who discovered powerful techniques to decode and even design novel proteins were awarded the Nobel Prize in chemistry.
The Nobel Peace Prize will be announced Friday and the economics award on Oct. 14.
The prize carries a cash award of 11 million Swedish kronor ($1 million) from a bequest left by the award’s creator, Swedish inventor Alfred Nobel. The laureates are invited to receive their awards at ceremonies on Dec. 10, the anniversary of Nobel’s death.
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Corder reported from The Hague, Netherlands.
The Nobel Prize in Literature is one of the most prestigious awards in the literary world, recognizing outstanding contributions to literature from authors around the globe. The award ceremony takes place annually in Stockholm, Sweden, where the Nobel Prize was established by Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, in his will in 1895.
The Nobel Prize in Literature is awarded to an author who has produced “in the field of literature the most distinguished work in an idealistic direction.” The recipient is selected by the Swedish Academy, a group of 18 members who are experts in literature and linguistics. The award includes a gold medal, a diploma, and a cash prize of 10 million Swedish kronor (approximately $1.1 million).
The award ceremony takes place on December 10th, the anniversary of Alfred Nobel’s death, at the Stockholm Concert Hall. The ceremony is attended by members of the Swedish royal family, dignitaries, and literary luminaries from around the world. The recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature is invited to give a lecture on their work, which is often a highlight of the ceremony.
The Nobel Prize in Literature has been awarded to some of the most renowned authors in history, including Ernest Hemingway, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Toni Morrison, and Bob Dylan. The award has also been a source of controversy at times, with some recipients being criticized for their political views or controversial works.
The Nobel Prize in Literature is not just a recognition of an author’s talent and skill, but also a celebration of the power of literature to inspire, provoke thought, and change the world. The award ceremony in Stockholm is a momentous occasion that brings together the literary community to honor and celebrate the achievements of some of the greatest writers of our time.
