Nobel Prize in Literature: Remember the Last Laureates

The Swedish Academy has awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature to writers of different nationalities, styles and genres. The honor, one of the most prestigious in the world, recognizes outstanding contributions to universal literature. In 2024, South Korean Han Kang was the winner, author of The Vegetarian (2007).

The announcement, made in Stockholm, Sweden, has rekindled public interest in the list of recent laureates. The selection of the Swedish Academy usually generates debates about criteria and representativeness. In this regard, we remember the winners from 2016 to 2024 and their best known works.

Han Kang and South Korean Literature

Han Kang, born in Gwangju, South Korea, became the first author in the country to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature. The academy highlighted his poetic and intense prose, which confronts historical traumas and exposes the fragility of human life. The vegetarian, his most famous work, tells the story of a woman who decides to stop eating meat, triggering violent reactions in the family and in society.

The book, originally published in 2007, was translated into dozens of languages and won the Man Booker International Prize in 2016. The choice of Han Kang reinforces the growing visibility of Asian literature on the global stage. The source did not detail other titles of the award-winning author.

Jon Fosse to Annie Ernaux

In 2023, the Norwegian Jon Fosse was awarded for his groundbreaking work, which includes Septology (or Heptalogy). Fosse is known for a minimalist and repetitive style, which explores the human condition with spiritual depth. His writing, often compared to that of Samuel Beckett, dialogues with contemporary theatre and prose.

The previous year, Frenchwoman Annie Ernaux received the award for her ruthless autobiographical writing. The years (2008) is considered his masterpiece, a collective portrait of post-war French society in the 21st century. Ernaux is the first French woman to win the Nobel Prize in Literature.

Abdulrazak Gurnah and Louise Glück

In 2021, Tanzanian Abdulrazak Gurnah was recognized for his narrative about the effects of colonialism and the experience of refugees. His soap opera Paradise (1994) was a finalist of the Booker Prize and is a landmark of African literature. Gurnah, who lives in the UK, writes in English and addresses topics such as identity, memory and displacement.

In 2020, the American Louise Glück won for the lyrical precision of her poetry. The Triumph of Achilles (1985) is one of his most acclaimed books. Glück, who was also a poet laureate of the Estados Unidos, died in 2023, but his legacy remains influential.

Peter Handke and Olga Tokarczuk

Austrian Peter Handke, laureate in 2019, is the author of The Left Woman (1976), a soap opera that explores alienation and the search for identity. Handke is a controversial figure due to political positions on the Balkans, but his literary contribution is undeniable. The academy praised his work for exploring the periphery of human experience.

In the same year, the Polish Olga Tokarczuk received the prize referring to 2018, postponed by a scandal in the academy. On the Bones of the Dead (2009) mixes ecological thriller and philosophical reflection. Tokarczuk is an important voice of feminism and environmental activism in literature.

Kazuo Ishiguro and Bob Dylan

In 2017, Japanese-born British author Kazuo Ishiguro was awarded for soap operas that reveal the abyss beneath our illusory sense of connection to the world. The Remains of Day (1989) is his most famous book, adapted for film with Anthony Hopkins. Ishiguro explores memory, time and self-deception with mastery.

In 2016, Bob Dylan became the first and only singer-songwriter to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature. The academy justified the honor for his poetic compositions within the great tradition of American song. Dylan, however, took a long time to respond to the award and did not attend the ceremony.

The legacy of José Saramago

Although it is not on the recent list, it is impossible to talk about the Nobel without remembering the Portuguese José Saramago, the only Portuguese-speaking author to win the prize. The Swedish Academy awarded the prize to the author of Essay on Blindness “for his ability to make understandable an elusive reality with parables sustained by imagination, compassion and irony.”

Saramago, who died in 2010, left a vast and critical work, marked by magical realism and the defense of human rights. Its recognition opened doors to Portuguese-speaking literature in the world. The source did not detail other award-winning Portuguese-speaking authors.

László Krasznahorkai, last year's honoree

Last year, the honor was given to the Hungarian László Krasznahorkai, author of Satan’s Tango (Satántangó, in the original title), released in 1985. According to the academy, his work can be understood as part of a Central European tradition characterized by the absurd and the grotesque.

Krasznahorkai is known for long, hypnotic phrases, which plunge the reader into oppressive atmospheres. His most famous soap opera was adapted for cinema by director Béla Tarr, in a seven-hour film. The award reinforces the importance of Hungarian literature on the world stage.

The Nobel Prize in Literature continues to celebrate the diversity of voices and the strength of the written word. Every year, the Swedish Academy surprises and provokes debates about what is literature. For more news on culture and awards, continue browsing the Boca no Trombone portal.

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