Nobel Prize in Literature Goes to Norwegian Author Jon Fosse.
Norwegian author and dramatist Jon Fosse won the 2023 Nobel Prize in Literature "for his innovative plays and prose which give voice to the unsayable," the award-giving body said on Thursday.
The prize is awarded by the Swedish Academy and is worth 11 million Swedish crowns (about $1 million).
Born in 1959 in Haugesund on Norway's west coast, Fosse is one of the world's most performed playwrights but his work spans a variety of genres including plays, novels, poetry collections, essays, children's books and translations.
His work "touches on the deepest feelings that you have, anxieties, insecurities, questions of life and death," Swedish Academy member Anders Olsson said.
"It has a sort of universal impact of everything that he writes. And it doesn't matter if it is drama, poetry or prose, it the same kind of appeal of basic humanism," Olsson said.
Fosse, seen as a regular contender to win the prize and among this year's favourites in the betting odds, said he was "overwhelmed and somewhat frightened" by the award.
"I see this as an award to the literature that first and foremost aims to be literature, without other considerations," he said in a statement.
Fosse has spoken extensively of his recovery from alcoholism and a struggle to overcome social anxiety, and the role played by religious faith.
"It's possible to free oneself from alcoholism, but it's hard to transition from a life governed by addiction to one led by something other than alcohol," Fosse said in a Norwegian Salvation Army interview in 2021.
"My conversion (to Catholicism) and the fact that I am a practicing Catholic, has helped me," Fosse said at the time.
Fosse is the fourth Norwegian to win the Nobel Prize for literature, but the first since 1928.
BREAKTHROUGH WORKS
His European breakthrough as a dramatist came with Claude Régy's 1999 Paris production of his 1996 play "Nokon kjem til å komme" ("Someone Is Going to Come").
His magnum opus in prose is the "Septology" series of three books divided into seven parts which he completed in 2021 - "Det andre namnet" ("The Other Name" - 2019), "Eg er ein annan" ("I is Another - 2020), and "Eit nytt namn" ("A New Name" - 2021).
"The work progresses seemingly endlessly and without sentence breaks, but it is formally held together by recurring themes and ritual gestures of prayer in a timespan of seven days," the Academy's Olsson said.
Fosse, 64, writes in the least common of the two official versions of Norwegian. He said he regarded the award as a recognition of this language and the movement promoting it, and that he ultimately owed the prize to the language itself.
Known as "new Norwegian" and used by only about 10% of the population, Fosse's version of the language was developed in the 19th century with rural dialects at its base, making it an alternative to the dominant use of Danish that followed from a 400-year union with Denmark.
According to his p
Norwegian author and dramatist Jon Fosse won the 2023 Nobel Prize in Literature "for his innovative plays and prose which give voice to the unsayable," the award-giving body said on Thursday.
The prize is awarded by the Swedish Academy and is worth 11 million Swedish crowns (about $1 million).
Born in 1959 in Haugesund on Norway's west coast, Fosse is one of the world's most performed playwrights but his work spans a variety of genres including plays, novels, poetry collections, essays, children's books and translations.
His work "touches on the deepest feelings that you have, anxieties, insecurities, questions of life and death," Swedish Academy member Anders Olsson said.
"It has a sort of universal impact of everything that he writes. And it doesn't matter if it is drama, poetry or prose, it the same kind of appeal of basic humanism," Olsson said.
Fosse, seen as a regular contender to win the prize and among this year's favourites in the betting odds, said he was "overwhelmed and somewhat frightened" by the award.
"I see this as an award to the literature that first and foremost aims to be literature, without other considerations," he said in a statement.
Fosse has spoken extensively of his recovery from alcoholism and a struggle to overcome social anxiety, and the role played by religious faith.
"It's possible to free oneself from alcoholism, but it's hard to transition from a life governed by addiction to one led by something other than alcohol," Fosse said in a Norwegian Salvation Army interview in 2021.
"My conversion (to Catholicism) and the fact that I am a practicing Catholic, has helped me," Fosse said at the time.
Fosse is the fourth Norwegian to win the Nobel Prize for literature, but the first since 1928.
BREAKTHROUGH WORKS
His European breakthrough as a dramatist came with Claude Régy's 1999 Paris production of his 1996 play "Nokon kjem til å komme" ("Someone Is Going to Come").
His magnum opus in prose is the "Septology" series of three books divided into seven parts which he completed in 2021 - "Det andre namnet" ("The Other Name" - 2019), "Eg er ein annan" ("I is Another - 2020), and "Eit nytt namn" ("A New Name" - 2021).
"The work progresses seemingly endlessly and without sentence breaks, but it is formally held together by recurring themes and ritual gestures of prayer in a timespan of seven days," the Academy's Olsson said.
Fosse, 64, writes in the least common of the two official versions of Norwegian. He said he regarded the award as a recognition of this language and the movement promoting it, and that he ultimately owed the prize to the language itself.
Known as "new Norwegian" and used by only about 10% of the population, Fosse's version of the language was developed in the 19th century with rural dialects at its base, making it an alternative to the dominant use of Danish that followed from a 400-year union with Denmark.
According to his p
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NewsTranscript
00:00 The Nobel Prize in Literature goes to Norwegian author John Fossey.
00:04 The Norwegian playwright, poet, and novelist John Fossey was awarded the 2023 Nobel Prize
00:10 in Literature on Thursday.
00:12 Announcing the award, the Swedish Academy said Fossey was given the honor in recognition
00:17 of "his innovative plays and prose which give voice to the unsayable."
00:21 "I am overwhelmed and somewhat frightened," the 64-year-old writer said in a statement.
00:27 "I see this as an award to the literature that first and foremost aims to be literature
00:32 without other considerations."
00:34 Fossey, who has written more than 40 plays, as well as novels, short stories, and essays,
00:41 will receive around $1 million in addition to the prize.
00:45 He writes in "New Norwegian," the much less commonly used of two official versions of
00:50 the Norwegian language.
00:51 (upbeat music)