---
title: "Krasznahorkai wins 2025 Nobel Prize in Literature"
description: "STOCKHOLM, Oct 9 (Reuters) - Hungarian writer Laszlo Krasznahorkai won the 2025 Nobel Prize in Literature, the award-giving body said on Thursday."
type: "NewsArticle"
publisher: "Daily Maverick"
site: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za"
section: "Newsdeck"
author: "Reuters"
author_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/author/reuters/"
canonical_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2025-10-09-krasznahorkai-wins-2025-nobel-prize-in-literature/"
published: "2025-10-09T13:46:22"
updated: "2025-10-09T13:46:23"
lang: "en-ZA"
word_count: 342
---

# Krasznahorkai wins 2025 Nobel Prize in Literature

> STOCKHOLM, Oct 9 (Reuters) - Hungarian writer Laszlo Krasznahorkai won the 2025 Nobel Prize in Literature, the award-giving body said on Thursday.

By Reuters · Published 9 October 2025, 15:46 SAST · Updated 9 October 2025, 15:46 SAST

## Key points
- In a dramatic twist of literary fate, the Swedish Academy has crowned Hungarian wordsmith László Krasznahorkai with the 2025 Nobel Prize in Literature, proving once again that in a world teetering on the brink, the pen remains mightier than the apocalypse.
- Hungarian author László Krasznahorkai wins the 2025 Nobel Prize in Literature, celebrated for his visionary works amidst apocalyptic themes.
- The prestigious award, established by Alfred Nobel in 1901, carries a prize of 11 million crowns ($1.2 million).
- Past laureates include literary giants like William Faulkner, Winston Churchill, and Jon Fosse, with last year's prize awarded to South Korean author Han Kang.
- The Swedish Academy's choices have sparked controversy over the years, facing criticism for perceived biases and overlooking literary titans like Tolstoy and Joyce.

## Content

The prize is awarded by the Swedish Academy and is worth 11 million crowns ($1.2 million).

Established in the will of Swedish dynamite inventor and businessman Alfred Nobel, the prizes for achievements in literature, science and peace have been awarded since 1901.

"The Nobel Prize in Literature for 2025 is awarded to the Hungarian author László Krasznahorkai for his compelling and visionary oeuvre that, in the midst of apocalyptic terror, reaffirms the power of art," said Mats Malm, Permanent Secretary at the Swedish Academy.

Past winners of the 11 million Swedish crown ($1.2 million) literature prize include French poet and essayist Sully Prudhomme, who bagged the first award, American novelist and short story writer William Faulkner in 1949, Britain's World War Two Prime Minister Winston Churchill in 1953, Turkey's Orhan Pamuk in 2006 and Norway's Jon Fosse in 2023.

Last year's prize was [won](https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL1N3LM0DN&linkedFromStory=true) by South Korean author Han Kang who became the 18th woman - the first was Swedish author Selma Lagerlof in 1909 - and the first South Korean to receive the award.

Over the years, the choices made by the Swedish Academy have drawn as much ire as applause.

In 2016, the award to American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan sparked criticism that his work was not proper literature, while Austrian Peter Handke's prize also drew criticism in 2019.

Handke had attended the funeral in 2006 of former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic, seen by many as responsible for the deaths of thousands of ethnic Albanians who were killed in Kosovo and the displacement of almost 1 million others during a brutal war waged by forces under his control in 1998-99.

Prizegivers have also in the past been accused of being snobbish, of having an anti-American bias and of ignoring some of the giants of literature, including Russia's Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy, France's Emile Zola and Ireland's James Joyce.

(Reporting by Simon Johnson and Johan Ahlander in Stockholm, Justyna Pawlak in Warsaw; additional reporting by Terje Solsvik in Oslo, Greta Rosen Fondahn, Niklas Pollard and Marie Mannes in Stockholm; Editing by Alex Richardson)