Hungarian writer László Krasznahorkai has been awarded the 2025 Nobel Prize in Literature, the Swedish Academy announced on Thursday.
The prize carries a monetary award of 11 million Swedish kronor (around $1.2 million).
Mats Malm, Permanent Secretary of the Swedish Academy, said the honor recognizes Krasznahorkai for his “compelling and visionary oeuvre that, in the midst of apocalyptic terror, reaffirms the power of art.”
Renowned for his dense, hypnotic prose and unflinching exploration of societal and existential collapse, Krasznahorkai is considered one of Europe’s most distinctive literary voices. His major works—including Satantango, The Melancholy of Resistance, and War & War—delve into themes of decay, chaos, and the fragility of human order, often in sentences that stretch for pages with minimal punctuation. His decades-long collaboration with filmmaker Béla Tarr, who adapted several of his novels into acclaimed films, has further amplified his global influence.
The Nobel Prizes, established by Swedish inventor Alfred Nobel, have been awarded annually since 1901 to honor outstanding achievements in literature, physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, peace, and—since 1968—economic sciences. Past literature laureates include Sully Prudhomme (the first recipient in 1901), William Faulkner, Winston Churchill, Orhan Pamuk, and Jon Fosse.
Last year, the prize went to South Korean author Han Kang, best known for her novel The Vegetarian, making her the 18th woman and the first South Korean to win the Nobel Prize in Literature.
The Academy’s selections have sometimes sparked controversy. The 2016 award to Bob Dylan raised questions about whether song lyrics qualify as literature, while the 2019 prize to Austrian novelist Peter Handke drew criticism for his political stances during the Yugoslav Wars. The institution has also faced accusations of Eurocentrism, elitism, and overlooking literary giants such as Leo Tolstoy, Émile Zola, and James Joyce, none of whom received the prize during their lifetimes.
Krasznahorkai, 71, is expected to deliver his Nobel Lecture in Stockholm in December 2025.
