László Krasznahorkai Wins 2025 Nobel Prize in Literature
Hungarian author László Krasznahorkai, renowned for his dystopian and apocalyptic fiction, has been awarded the 2025 Nobel Prize in Literature. The Swedish Academy honored the 71-year-old novelist for his “compelling and visionary oeuvre that, in the midst of apocalyptic terror, reaffirms the power of art.”
Krasznahorkai, whose works include Satantango and The Melancholy of Resistance, is celebrated for his intricately structured, long-sentence prose that has drawn comparisons to Franz Kafka, Herman Melville, and Nikolai Gogol. Several of his novels have been adapted into acclaimed films, notably Satantango, which Hungarian director Béla Tarr transformed into a seven-hour arthouse epic in 1994.
Born in Gyula, Hungary, in 1954, Krasznahorkai made his literary debut with Satantango, which depicts life in a decaying Hungarian village under the shadow of Soviet rule, led by the mysterious return of the enigmatic Irimiás. His 1989 novel The Melancholy of Resistance follows apocalyptic events in a provincial town amid the Eastern Bloc’s political unrest. Other notable works include War and War (1999), Seiobo There Below (2008), The Prisoner of Urga (1992), and Destruction and Sorrow Beneath the Heavens (2004), many inspired by his travels across Europe and East Asia after leaving communist Hungary in 1987.
Krasznahorkai’s contributions have earned him numerous accolades, including the 2019 National Book Award for Translated Literature and the 2015 Man Booker International Prize. He is the second Hungarian author to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature, following Imre Kertész in 2002.
The Nobel Committee’s announcement follows several days of awards in science categories and comes with a prize of 11 million Swedish kronor (£870,000), an 18-carat gold medal, and a diploma. Krasznahorkai will formally accept the award at a ceremony in Stockholm this December.
Previous laureates include Annie Ernaux, Bob Dylan, Abdulrazak Gurnah, Louise Glück, Peter Handke, and Olga Tokarczuk. While the award has faced criticism for favoring European and North American writers and male authors, Krasznahorkai’s recognition highlights his influential and globally respected literary voice.
The 2025 Nobel Peace Prize winner is set to be announced on Friday, with U.S. President Donald Trump considered an unlikely candidate despite his recent statements advocating for the honor.
