THE NOBEL PRIZE for Literature has been awarded to French writer Patrick Modiano.
The biggest prize in literature, worth eight million kronor (€877,000), was announced at a ceremony in Sweden this afternoon.
The Swedish Academy, which hands out the award, said Modiano had won “for the art of memory with which he has evoked the most ungraspable human destinies and uncovered the life-world of the occupation”.
Modiano’s works centre on topics such as memory, oblivion, identity and guilt, the Academy said.
The 69-year-old is the 11th Nobel Laureate to come from France.
The prize is awarded to the person who produced “the most outstanding work in an ideal direction” in the field of literature.
The Swedish Academy, which hands out the award, said it had received 210 nominations for this year’s prize.
Winners from the past decade:
2013: Alice Munro
2012: Mo Yan
2011: Tomas Tranströmer
2010: Mario Vargas Llosa
2009: Herta Müller
2008: Jean-Marie Gustave le Clézio
2007: Doris Lessin
2006: Orhan Pamuk
2005: Harold Pinter
2004: Elfriede Jelinek
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