Belarussian journalist and literary genius wins Nobel Prize for Literature

Svetlana Alexievich, a Belarussian journalist and prose writer known for deeply researched works about female Russian soldiers in World War II and the aftermath of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, won the Nobel Prize in Literature today “for her polyphonic writings, a monument to suffering and courage in our time,” the Swedish Academy announced.

Speaking by phone to the Swedish broadcaster SVT, Svetlana said that the award left her with a “complicated” feeling.

“It immediately evokes such great names as [Ivan] Bunin, [Boris] Pasternak,” she said, referring to Russian writers who have won the prize. “On the one hand, it’s such a fantastic feeling, but it’s also a bit disturbing.”

Svetlana Alexievich added that the 8m Swedish krona (£775,000) prize would “buy her freedom”.

“It takes me a long time to write my books, from five to 10 years. I have two ideas for new books so I’m pleased that I will now have the freedom to work on them.”

Alexievich's work includes a series of books called the "Voices of Utopia" about individuals in the former Soviet Union as well as works on the consequences of the 1986 nuclear disaster in Chernobyl and the Russian war in Afghanistan.

Alexievich, born in 1948 in Ukraine, worked as a teacher and a journalist after finishing school.

"She has invented a new literary genre. She transcends journalistic formats and has pressed ahead with a genre that others have helped create," said Sara Danius, permanent secretary of the Swedish Academy.

"If you remove her works from the shelves there would be gaping holes. That says a lot about how original she is."

Alexievich led the odds for the 2015 award, ahead of Japan’s Haruki Murakami, Kenya’s Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o and the Norwegian playwright Jon Fosse.

She becomes the 14th woman to win the prize since it was first awarded in 1901. The last woman to win was Canada’s Alice Munro, she was handed the award in 2013.

Nigeria'sWole Soyinkawon the Nobel Prize for  Literature in 1986 and since then no Nigerian has ever been nominated.

Patrick Modiano, from France won the Nobel Prize for Literature last year.

The Nobel Prize was named after dynamite inventor Alfred Nobel and has been awarded since 1901 for achievements in science, literature and peace in accordance with his will.

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