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Who is Jon Fosse, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature?
The Nobel Prize winner's work has been translated in over 40 languages.
The Nobel Prize in Literature 2023 was awarded to Norwegian author Jon Fosse. Fosse was awarded the prestigious prize for his "innovative plays and prose which give voice to the unsayable.”
“The 2023 literature laureate Jon Fosse presents everyday situations that are instantly recognisable in our own lives. His radical reduction of language and dramatic action expresses the most powerful human emotions of anxiety and powerlessness in the simplest terms,” the award committee said.
Born in 1959 on the Norwegian west coast, Fosse is one of the most recognised and widely performed playwrights. His work spans a variety of genres consisting of plays, novels, poetry collections, essays, children’s books and translations. His debut novel “Raudt', svart” (Red, Black) was published in 1983 and since then, his work has been translated in over 40 languages worldwide.
Fosse's first play, “Og aldri skal vi skiljast” (And We'll Never Be Parted), was performed and published in 1994. His other works include novels, short stories, poetry, children's books, essays and plays.
In 2015, Fosse was ranked number 83 on the list of the “Top 100 living geniuses” by The Daily Telegraph.
In April 2022, his novel “A New Name: Septology VI-VII”, which was translated into English by Damion Searls, was shortlisted for the International Booker Prize.
The 64-year-old lives with his second wife in Austria.
The Nobel Prizes
The Nobel Prize in Literature is the fourth award to be granted this week. On Wednesday, the Nobel Prize 2023 in Chemistry was awarded to Moungi G Bawendi, Louis E Brus and Alexei I Ekimov.
Prior to that France's Pierre Agostini, Hungarian-Austrian Ferenc Krausz and Franco-Swede Anne L'Huillier won the Nobel Prize in Physics and Hungarian scientist Katalin Kariko and her American colleague Drew Weissman were awarded the Nobel Medicine Prize on Monday and Tuesday.
The Literature prize will be followed by the highly watched awards in Peace and Economics to be announced on October 6 and 9.
