The novelist and playwright was announced as the winner of the top prize in literature.
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00:00 An award for innovative plays and prose that give voice to the unsayable.
00:04 Jan Fosse has won this year's Nobel Prize in Literature.
00:08 At 64, the author is one of Norway's most accomplished playwrights
00:11 and has been waiting for this moment for the last 10 years.
00:14 He has written some 40 plays as well as novels and short stories.
00:18 I've just spoken to Jan Fosse on the phone.
00:22 He was driving on the countryside at Sognefjord, north of Bergen in Norway.
00:28 And we had the opportunity to start speaking about practical matters
00:34 and the Nobel Week in December.
00:37 No, it's not that overwhelming.
00:40 It was unexpected, I can say.
00:43 Even though I've been in discussions since 2013,
00:49 I've kind of realized that it could happen.
00:54 But it's been nine years, and there's been a lot of fuss about it.
01:00 And there hasn't been any prize, so I didn't think there would be any this year either.
01:04 Jan Fosse's work is similar to that of Czech author Franz Kafka,
01:07 but with everyday life situations.
01:09 He has written over 40 plays as well as novels and short stories.
01:13 (whooshing)