Belarus writer wins Nobel
STOCKHOLM — Belarusian writer Svetlana Alexievich won the Nobel Prize in literature today for works that the prize judges called “a monument to suffering and courage.”
Alexievich, 67, used the skills of a journalist to create literature chronicling the great tragedies of the Soviet Union and its 1991 collapse: World War II, the Soviet war in Afghanistan, the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster and the suicides that later ensued from those mourning the death of Communism.
The Nobel academy’s permanent secretary, Sara Danius, praised Alexievich as a great and innovative writer who has “mapped the soul” of the Soviet and post-Soviet people.
Her first novel, “The Unwomanly Face of the War,” published in 1985 and based on the previously untold stories of women who had fought against Nazi Germany, sold more than 2 million copies.
Her books have been published in 19 countries, with at least five of them translated into English. She also has written three plays and the screenplays for 21 documentary films. The Swedish Academy cited Alexievich “for her polyphonic writings, a monument to suffering and courage in our time.”
Speaking by phone to Swedish broadcaster SVT, Alexievich said winning the award left her with “complicated” emotions.
The Nobel Peace Prize winner will be announced on Friday and the economics award Monday.
