Han Kang* (한강), South Korea
(* following Korean customs, "Han" is the family name)
Photo by Ccmontgom - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=33504533
Jon Fosse, Norway
Photo by
Abdulrazak Gurnah, Tanzania
Photo by PalFest - originally posted to Flickr as "Abulrazak Gurnah on Hebron Panel", CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons.
Louise Elisabeth Glück, USA
Photo in the public domain - Author unknown
Han Kang / 한강 (Gwangju, South Korea, 1940) won the 2024 Nobel Prize for Literature for a body of work which deeply fathoms the human condition, particularly in relation to trauma, identity, and the complexities of existence. Han is the first Korean writer to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature.
Jon Olav Fosse (Haugesund, Norway, 1959) won the 2023 Nobel Prize for Literature for an extensive body of work which, through novels, plays, and short stories, delves into the human psyche, addressing existential themes and the complexities of existence. Fosse is the fourth Norwegian writer to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature, and the first to do so writing in Nynorsk.
In his will, Alfred Bernhard Nobel (1833-1896) left most of his fortune to a trust to establish what eventually became the Nobel Prize, the most highly regarded scientific and literary accolade in the world. The Nobel Prize in Literature, first assigned in 1901, honors "the person who shall have produced in the field of literature the most outstanding work in an ideal direction...”
Prizes are awarded each year every December 10th in a ceremony held since 1934 at the Blue Hall in the Stockholm City Hall. Usually the prize recognizes a body of work, and only in nine cases the Swedish Academy assigned it to an author in appreciation of a specific work. It has never been assigned posthumously.
Photo in the public domain - Author unknown
