Poland's ruling nationalists seen on course to remain in power for second term
Poland's nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) was on course to keep its ruling majority after a general election on Sunday, an exit poll showed, a victory likely to stoke concern about democratic standards in the largest ex-Soviet European Union state.
Austrian Handke and Poland’s Tokarczuk win Nobel literature prizes
Austrian Handke and Poland’s Tokarczuk win Nobel literature prizes
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The permanent secretary of the Swedish Academy, Mats Malm, announces the winners of the 2018 and 2019 Nobel Prize in Literature in Stockholm, Sweden, Thursday Oct. 10, 2019. ( AP)
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(COMBO) This combination of pictures created on October 10, 2019 shows Polish author Olga Tokarczuk (L) on September 17, 2018 in Krakow and Austrian novelist and playwright Peter Handke on November 22, 2012 in Salzburg, Austria. (AFP)
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The Permanent Secretary of the Swedish Academy, Mats Malm, announces Olga Tokarczuk as the winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature 2018 and Peter Handke as the winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature 2019, in Stockholm, Sweden, October 10, 2019. (Reuters)
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Books of Austrian novelist and playwright Peter Handke and a drawing depicting him (background) are displayed at the headquarters of his German editor Suhrkamp Verlag on October 10, 2019 in Berlin.(AFP)
Austrian writer Peter Handke won the 2019 Nobel Prize for Literature on Thursday
and the 2018 award went to Polish author Olga Tokarczuk, the Swedish Academy said on Thursday.
Handke, 76, was recognized for a body of work which includes novels, essays, notebooks and drama and “that with linguistic ingenuity has explored the periphery and the specificity of human experience,” the Academy said in a statement.
Tokarczuk, 57, won for “a narrative imagination that with encyclopaedic passion represents the crossing of boundaries as a form of life,” it said.
Both have courted controversy — Handke for his portrayal of Serbia as a victim during the Balkan wars and attending its leader’s funeral, and
Tokarczuk for touching on dark areas of Poland’s past that contrast with the version of history promoted by the country’s ruling nationalist party.
Two prizes were awarded this year after last year’s award was postponed over a scandal that led to the husband of an Academy member being convicted of rape.
Since then, the organization has appointed new members and reformed some of its more arcane rules after a rare intervention by its royal patron, the king of Sweden.
Academy member Anders Olsson said both Handke and Tokarczuk had accepted their prizes.
Tokarczuk
Tokarczuk trained as a psychologist before publishing her first novel in 1993. Since then, she has produced a steady and varied stream of works and her novel “Flight” won her the high-profile Man Booker International Prize last year. She was the first Polish author to do so.
Though some of the episodes she has written about contrast with version of history promoted by Poland’s ruling Law and Justice (PiS), her agent said the award should not be seen in the context of a parliamentary election being held on Sunday in Poland.
Speaking on Polish television, Poland’s culture minister, Piotr Glinski, said the award to Tokarczuk was a success for Polish culture. “I think that Mrs. Tokarczuk also perceives this that way, because she is a representative of Polish culture and Polish literature,” he said.
Former head of scandal-hit Swedish Academy dies of cancer
Sara Danius, the former head of the scandal-tainted committee which awards the Nobel Prize in Literature, has died of cancer, Swedish news agency TT said on Saturday.
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