The Hungarian novelist László Krasznahorkai has been awarded the 2025 Nobel Prize in Literature, the Swedish Academy announced. The academy cited his “compelling and visionary oeuvre that, in the midst of apocalyptic terror, reaffirms the power of art”.
Krasznahorkai, 71, is known for his dystopian, melancholic novels. His works have won numerous prizes, including the 2019 National Book Award for Translated Literature and the 2015 International Booker Prize. Several of his novels, such as Satantango and The Melancholy of Resistance, have been adapted into films by director Béla Tarr.
Novelist Colm Tóibín described Krasznahorkai as “a unique literary visionary who has opened up a huge amount of rich space in the contemporary novel”. Hari Kunzru called him “a curious, playful and very funny writer” whose work is both “bleak and difficult” but also fortifying.
Krasznahorkai’s prose is characterised by long, winding sentences, a signature style compared to Gogol, Melville and Kafka. Anders Olsson, chair of the Nobel committee, noted his “flowing syntax … devoid of full stops”. Susan Sontag called him “the contemporary Hungarian master of apocalypse”.
Born in Gyula, Hungary, in 1954, Krasznahorkai first made his mark with his debut novel Satantango in 1985. His career has been shaped by travel, including time in West Berlin, east Asia, and New York. In a statement, he said: “I am deeply glad … because this award proves that literature exists in itself.”
