Norwegian author awarded the Nobel Prize in literature

The Swedish Academy in Stockholm on Wednesday awarded Jon Fosse the 2023 Nobel Prize in literature. Fosse joins previous Nobel Prize winners like T. S. Eliot and William Faulkner. The Swedish Academy says Fosse was chosen “for his innovative plays and prose which give voice to the unsayable.”

What has Fosse written? Fosse is best known as a playwright but has also written novels, poetry, essays, children’s books, and translations. His most recent novel, A New Name: Septology VI-VII, is about two painters named Asle wrestling with questions about existence and human life. Fosse converted to Catholicism in 2012 after spending much of his life as an atheist. The year before, he had assisted with translating the Bible into Norwegian.

Dig deeper: Listen to Katie Gaultney’s report on the origins of the prize on The World and Everything in It podcast.