Hungarian writer wins Nobel Prize in literature

Hungarian writer László Krasznahorkai, known for his darkly comic and philosophically intricate novels that often unfold in a single, unbroken sentence, has been awarded the 2025 Nobel Prize in Literature.

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The Swedish Academy cited his "compelling and visionary oeuvre that, in the midst of apocalyptic terror, reaffirms the power of art." The 71-year-old author's works, marked by a hypnotic prose style and bleak humour, have long drawn comparisons to the Central European literary tradition of Franz Kafka and Thomas Bernhard. Announcing the prize in Stockholm, Steve SemSandberg of the Nobel committee described Krasznahorkai as "a great epic writer... characterized by absurdism and grotesque excess." Sem-Sandberg said Krasznahorkai's writing "sees through the fragility of the social order" while maintaining "an unwavering belief in the power of art." He added that the novelist had been on the Academy's radar "for some time" and hailed his career as "almost half a century of pure excellence." Krasznahorkai, who could not immediately be reached for comment and did not appear at the announcement, is the first Hungarian Nobel laureate in literature since Imre Kertész in 2002. He joins a distinguished roster of past winners that incl