Jon Fosse, 64, is the winner of the 2023 Nobel Prize in Literature for his ‘innovative plays and prose which gave voice to the unsayable.’
On October 5, 2023 the announcement was made.
“His huge oeuvre, spanning a variety of genres, comprises around 40 plays and a wealth of novels, poetry collections, essays, children’s books and translations,’ said Anders Olsson, chair of the Nobel Committee for Literature.
“Fosse blends a rootedness in the language and nature of his Norwegian background with artistic techniques in the wake of modernism.”
Jon Fosse was born in 1959 in Haugesund in Norway. He was brought up in Strandebarm. He nearly died in an accident at the age of seven which he calls “the most important experience” of his childhood and one that “created” him as an artist.
He started his career as a rock guitarist before he ventured into writing as a career. His first novel is “Red, Black” which was published in 1983. He also published his first play “And Never Shall we Part” which was staged at the National Theater in Bergen in 1994.
His first play ever he wrote was titled “Someone is Going to Come” brought him success when it was staged by a French director in 1999.
According to Alfred Nobel, the prestigious prize should go “to the person who, in the field of literature, produced the most outstanding work in an idealistic direction.”
Every year seven Nobel Prizes are awarded to recognize people’s outstanding contribution to the field of medicine, chemistry, physics, psychology, literature, economics and peace.
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