The 2025 Nobel Prize in Literature will be awarded to the prestigious winner László Krasznahorkai. The winner is recognized for his “visionary and powerful writing.” His latest book, Herscht 07769, was published in 2021.
On October 9 at 1 p.m., this year’s Nobel Prize in Literature was announced. This year’s winner is Hungarian author László Krasznahorkai. The Swedish Academy’s motivation reads: “for his visionary and powerful writing which, amidst the horror of doom, maintains faith in the possibilities of art.” Among other winners with high odds, such as Haruki Murakami, Can Xue, and Gerald Murnane, László Krasznahorkai was high on the bookmakers’ lists.
László Krasznahorkai is known for blending darkness and humor in his works and is the first Hungarian to win the Nobel Prize in Literature since Imre Kertész, who received it in 2002. His debut novel, Satantango, is a grim and evocative depiction of a Hungarian village during the decline of the Eastern Bloc. One of his many earlier statements comes from author and literary scholar Susan Sontag, who is said to have called him a “master of the apocalypse.”
A quote that recurs in discussions about the author is “hope is a mistake,” which effectively sums up László Krasznahorkai’s literary practice.
