Hungarian writer Laszlo Krasznahorkai won the 2025 Nobel Prize in Literature on Thursday (October 9) “for his compelling and visionary oeuvre that, in the midst of apocalyptic terror, reaffirms the power of art".

The Swedish Academy, which awards the prize, said in a statement that Krasznahorkai is a great epic writer in the Central European tradition that extends through Kafka to Thomas Bernhard and is characterised by absurdism and grotesque excess.

The settings of his novels move across central Europe's remote villages and towns, from Hungary to Germany, before skipping to the Far East, where his travels to China and Japan left deep-seated impressions on Krasznahorkai.

The second Hungarian to win the prize, worth 11 million Swedish crowns ($1.2 million), after Imre Kertesz in 2002, Krasznahorkai was born in the small town of Gyula in southeast Hungary, near the Romanian border.

His breakthrough 1985 novel, Satantango, is set in a similarly remote rural area and became a literary sensation in Hungary.

DESCRIPCIÓN DE IMÁGENES

SHOWS: STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN (OCTOBER 9, 2025)(REUTERS – Access all)

1. PERMANENT SECRETARY OF THE SWEDISH ACADEMY, MATS MALM, OPENING DOOR AND WALKING INTO ROOM

2. (SOUNDBITE) (English) PERMANENT SECRETARY OF THE SWEDISH ACADEMY, MATS MALM, SAYING:

“The Nobel Prize in Literature for 2025 is awarded to the Hungarian author Laszlo Krasznahorkai for his compelling and visionary oeuvre that, in the midst of apocalyptic terror, reaffirms the power of art.”

3. VARIOUS OF NEWS CONFERENCE IN PROGRESS

4. MEMBER OF THE NOBEL COMMITTEE, SWEDISH NOVELIST STEVE SEM-SANDBERG, ENTERS ROOM

5.TELEVISION CAMERA

6. (SOUNDBITE)(English) MEMBER OF THE NOBEL COMMITTEE, SWEDISH NOVELIST, STEVE SEM-SANDBERG READING OUT THE SWEDISH ACADEMY’S TEXT ABOUT LAUREATE LASZLO KRASZNAHORKAI, SAYING:

“His style also allows for a lightness of touch and a great lyrical beauty. Inspired by impressions from journeys to China and Japan in the early 2000s, he has also, in several more finely tuned works, expanded his context beyond Central Europe.”

7. SEM-SANDBERG ADDRESSING PRESS CONFERENCE

8. (SOUNDBITE)(English) MEMBER OF THE NOBEL COMMITTEE, SWEDISH NOVELIST, STEVE SEM-SANDBERG READING OUT THE SWEDISH ACADEMY’S TEXT ABOUT LAUREATE LASZLO KRASZNAHORKAI, SAYING:

“It is Laszlo Krasznahorkai’s artistic gaze, which is entirely free of illusion and which sees through the fragility of the social order, combined with his unwavering belief in the power of art, that has motivated the academy to award him this prize.”

9. VARIOUS OF KRASZNAHORKAI‘S BOOKS ON TABLE

10. SEM-SANDBERG BEING INTERVIEWED

11. SEM-SANDBERG’ HANDS

12. (SOUNDBITE) (English) MEMBER OF THE NOBEL COMMITTEE, SWEDISH NOVELIST, STEVE SEM-SANDBERG, SAYING:

“He's been writing consistently since 40 years back. Work after work has been turned out and all of them are excellent. You might think of him as a Central European author of the classical and the classical mold, but he has also expanded his universe to the Booker Prize-winning novel, "Seiobo There Below", I think the English title is, which is where the setting is Kyoto in Japan. So he has a wide, wide range of different literature settings and works.”

13. SEM-SANDBERG BEING INTERVIEWED

14. SEM-SANDBERG’ HANDS

15. (SOUNDBITE)(English) MEMBER OF THE NOBEL COMMITTEE, SWEDISH NOVELIST, STEVE SEM-SANDBERG, SAYING, ON WHAT IT IS ABOUT KRASZNAHORKAI‘S WORK THAT MAKES HIM A NOBEL PRIZE WINNER:

“I can only answer for me personally. There's something about his style that when you read him, you're totally immersed in his work. It's impossible to put the book down because there's this apocalyptic feeling that surrounds you, that is almost real, it's almost tangible. You can feel it, like some sort of clamminess on you. And it's highly suggestive.”

16. EXTERIORS OF THE SWEDISH ACADEMY WHERE THE PRIZE WINNER IS ANNOUNCED AND THE NOBEL MUSEUM IS HOUSED

17. SIGN READING (English): “Nobel calling Stockholm 2025 - October 3-13”

18. MAN TAKING PHOTOGRAPH