Tomas Transtromer wins the Nobel Prize for Literature.
Stephen Send a noteboard - 06/10/2011 12:02:12 PM
Story to follow when I find one.
EDIT: Here's an article by the Telegraph, which seems okay.
Nobel Prize for Literature 2011 won by Tomas Tranströmer
Swedish poet Tomas Tranströmer wins 2011 Nobel Prize for Literature after late betting rush for Bob Dylan.
Swedish poet Tomas Transtromer has won the 2011 Nobel literature prize.
The academy said it awarded the 80-year-old poet "because, through his condensed, translucent images, he gives us fresh access to reality."
A trained psychologist, Transtromer wins the £942,000 prize - the richest in the world of books.
Born on April 15, 1931 in Stockholm, Tomas Gösta Tranströmer was raised alone by his mother after his father left them. He graduated in psychology in 1956 and started working in an institution for juvenile offenders in 1960.
In his parallel careers as psychologist and poet, he also worked with the disabled, convicts and drug addicts while, at the same time, producing a large body of poetic work.
When he was 23 and still a psychology student, Tranströmer's first collection of poetry, "Seventeen poems" was published by Bonnier, northern Europe's most prestigious publishing house.
Bonnier has described Tranströmer's poetry as "a permanent analysis of the enigma of the individual identity faced with the labyrinthian diversity of the world".
In 1966, he received the Bellman prize, which was followed by a plethora of other awards, including the Bonner award for poetry, Germany's Petrarch prize and the Swedish Academy's Nordic prize.
In 1997, the working-class city of Vaesteraas, where the poet lived for three decades before moving back to the capital Stockholm in the 1990s, established a special Tranströmer prize.
After publishing 10 volumes of poetry, Tranströmer suffered a stroke in 1990 which affected his ability to talk.
After a break of six years, he came back with Grief Gondola, a book that sold 30,000 copies in his native Sweden, a stunning figure by poetry standards.
Following this success, Tranströmer published nothing for eight years, except for his correspondence with Bly, before returning in 2004 with a collection of 45 haikus, Japanese-style poems invoking an aspect of nature or the seasons.
Since then, music has become more important to the accomplished amateur pianist than his writing, he told Swedish paper of reference Dagens Nyheter in an interview earlier this year through his wife Monica.
He plays the piano every day, using his left hand, the right damaged by the stroke, and spends his mornings listening to classical music.
Tranströmer, who had been tipped as a potential Nobel prize winner for years, lives with his wife. The couple have two daughters.
Earlier today, Nobel Prize Permanent Secretary Peter Englund branded the wild betting for this year's Literature award "crazy speculation" after singer Bob Dylan had become the favourite to win the 2011 prize.
Europeans have now won eight of the past 11 prizes and the Swedish Academy will be criticised again for ignoring writers from other parts of the world.
EDIT: Here's an article by the Telegraph, which seems okay.
Nobel Prize for Literature 2011 won by Tomas Tranströmer
Swedish poet Tomas Tranströmer wins 2011 Nobel Prize for Literature after late betting rush for Bob Dylan.
Swedish poet Tomas Transtromer has won the 2011 Nobel literature prize.
The academy said it awarded the 80-year-old poet "because, through his condensed, translucent images, he gives us fresh access to reality."
A trained psychologist, Transtromer wins the £942,000 prize - the richest in the world of books.
Born on April 15, 1931 in Stockholm, Tomas Gösta Tranströmer was raised alone by his mother after his father left them. He graduated in psychology in 1956 and started working in an institution for juvenile offenders in 1960.
In his parallel careers as psychologist and poet, he also worked with the disabled, convicts and drug addicts while, at the same time, producing a large body of poetic work.
When he was 23 and still a psychology student, Tranströmer's first collection of poetry, "Seventeen poems" was published by Bonnier, northern Europe's most prestigious publishing house.
Bonnier has described Tranströmer's poetry as "a permanent analysis of the enigma of the individual identity faced with the labyrinthian diversity of the world".
In 1966, he received the Bellman prize, which was followed by a plethora of other awards, including the Bonner award for poetry, Germany's Petrarch prize and the Swedish Academy's Nordic prize.
In 1997, the working-class city of Vaesteraas, where the poet lived for three decades before moving back to the capital Stockholm in the 1990s, established a special Tranströmer prize.
After publishing 10 volumes of poetry, Tranströmer suffered a stroke in 1990 which affected his ability to talk.
After a break of six years, he came back with Grief Gondola, a book that sold 30,000 copies in his native Sweden, a stunning figure by poetry standards.
Following this success, Tranströmer published nothing for eight years, except for his correspondence with Bly, before returning in 2004 with a collection of 45 haikus, Japanese-style poems invoking an aspect of nature or the seasons.
Since then, music has become more important to the accomplished amateur pianist than his writing, he told Swedish paper of reference Dagens Nyheter in an interview earlier this year through his wife Monica.
He plays the piano every day, using his left hand, the right damaged by the stroke, and spends his mornings listening to classical music.
Tranströmer, who had been tipped as a potential Nobel prize winner for years, lives with his wife. The couple have two daughters.
Earlier today, Nobel Prize Permanent Secretary Peter Englund branded the wild betting for this year's Literature award "crazy speculation" after singer Bob Dylan had become the favourite to win the 2011 prize.
Europeans have now won eight of the past 11 prizes and the Swedish Academy will be criticised again for ignoring writers from other parts of the world.
"I mean, if everyone had a soul, there would be no contrast by which we could appreciate it. For giving us this perspective, we thank you." - Nate
This message last edited by Stephen on 06/10/2011 at 12:58:13 PM
Tomas Transtromer wins the Nobel Prize for Literature.
- 06/10/2011 12:02:12 PM
1007 Views
Who?
- 06/10/2011 02:14:23 PM
775 Views
What a Transtravesty.
- 06/10/2011 02:59:09 PM
703 Views
Meh. I guess they were under pressure to produce a Swedish winner again.
- 06/10/2011 05:34:05 PM
839 Views
Re: Meh. I guess they were under pressure to produce a Swedish winner again.
- 08/10/2011 05:32:12 PM
918 Views
Nobel Prizes just continue to become more and more irrelevant..... *NM*
- 10/10/2011 03:21:43 AM
380 Views