The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has awarded the 2025 Nobel Prize in Literature to Hungarian novelist and screenwriter László Krasznahorkai, honoring him “for his compelling and visionary oeuvre that, in the midst of apocalyptic terror, reaffirms the power of art.”
László Krasznahorkai, 71, becomes the 122nd recipient of the prestigious award. Renowned for his dense, philosophical, and darkly humorous writing, he has long been celebrated as one of Europe’s most distinctive literary voices.
László Krasznahorkai
Several of his acclaimed works including his debut novel Satantango and The Melancholy of Resistance were adapted into films by noted Hungarian filmmaker Béla Tarr, further cementing Krasznahorkai’s influence on both literature and cinema.
With this honor, Krasznahorkai joins a distinguished group of past laureates such as Toni Morrison, Ernest Hemingway, and Kazuo Ishiguro.
The 2024 Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded to Han Kang of South Korea, recognized “for her intense poetic prose that confronts historical traumas and exposes the fragility of human life.” Han became the first South Korean writer and the 18th woman to receive the award.
