American poet Louise Glück wins Nobel Prize in Literature | NOW

The American poet Louise Glück was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature on Thursday. She is the sixteenth woman ever to win the award. The prize was through a Thursday livestream announced from Stockholm.

The 77-year-old Glück made his debut in 1968 with Firstborn and subsequently released eleven collections of poetry, of which The Wild Iris (1992) is one of the most celebrated. She won the Pulitzer Prize for this in 1993.

She is praised by the committee for, among other things, uncovering painful family relationships and evoking universal emotions. “A sober but also playful use of language”, chairman Anders Olssen explained the work of the poet. “Her voice is unmistakable. Frank, uncompromising, but also full of humor.” Glück was notified by telephone of her award and is said to have reacted very surprised.

Sixteenth woman ever

The prestigious prize has been awarded since 1901 to an author who has made a special contribution to literature. Professors, critics and previous winners worldwide can nominate their nominees. The committee, which is currently led by writer and professor Anders Olsson, awarded the prize to a total of 116 people. Glück is only the sixteenth woman.

In addition to the honorable award, the winner will receive an amount of 10 million Swedish kronor (960,000 euros). It is the first time since 2000 that this amount has been so high. Lars Heikensten, chairman of the organizing Nobel Foundation, told earlier that the amount could be increased because the organization has its finances in good order.

Olsson said earlier that the corona crisis has had no serious effect on the awarding of the prize. “We communicated more with secret codes, less by physically meeting each other,” said Olsson. Nominations and prize winners always remain strictly confidential. Even nominees do not know in advance that they have a chance.

Scandal in 2018

In 2019, the Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded to two authors for the first time. Olga Tokaraczuk and Peter Handke won simultaneously for two vintages, because the 2018 awards had to be canceled. Because of a sex scandal around the husband of one of the committee members, several people stepped up from the committee that year.

Other past winners include Ernest Hemingway, William Golding, Orhan Pamuk and Doris Lessing. In 2016, the Nobel Prize in Literature went to singer-songwriter Bob Dylan. This later led to criticism, because the media-shy singer kept quiet for weeks and was also not present at the presentation in December. However, the artist said he was very honored with the award.

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