Hungarian Author László Krasznahorkai Awarded 2025 Nobel Prize in Literature
Stockholm, October 9, 2025 – Hungarian author László Krasznahorkai has been awarded the 2025 Nobel Prize in Literature, recognized for his distinctive and relentlessly detailed novels that explore the depths of human experience and the bleak beauty of the Central European landscape. The announcement, made today, culminates years of Krasznahorkai being considered a strong contender for the prestigious award.He will receive the prize on December 10th.
Krasznahorkai, born in 1954 in Gyula, south-eastern Hungary, near the Romanian border, draws heavily from the tradition of Central European literature, echoing the styles of Kafka and Thomas Bernhard. His work is characterized by exceptionally long, complex sentences and a meticulous attention to detail, creating a hypnotic and immersive reading experience. As he himself states, he aims to “examine reality to the limit of madness.”
The author has already garnered meaningful international acclaim, including the International Man Booker Prize in 2015 and the National Book Award for Translated Literature in 2019. He was also a finalist for the Gregor Von Rezzori prize and the European Strega Prize in 2017.
Krasznahorkai’s breakthrough novel, Satantango (1985), published in Italy by Bompiani and bearing the epigraph “In that case, I will miss the thing waiting for it,” gained wider recognition through a highly original 1994 film adaptation directed in collaboration with Béla Tarr. He followed this success with Melancolia della resistance (1998), a darkly fantastical work featuring a circus and a stuffed whale. His novels continue to explore themes of isolation and decay, shifting settings from the Hungarian countryside to locations like New York City, as seen in The Return of Baron Wenckheim and War and War.
More recently, Seiobo’s Stories saw krasznahorkai turn his attention to art, including explorations of Renaissance Italy, from Perugino’s Florence to the Scuola Grande di San Rocco in Venice. He believes in the power of art and beauty to combat the world’s darkness, stating in a recent interview with ANSA, “What is happening in Ukraine makes us think that we are faced with a situation in which greater force will win over lesser force. However, in my opinion, with respect to any destructive force the only way to fight it is the weakness of kindness.”
Krasznahorkai’s next novel, Panino is no longer there, is scheduled for release in italy by Bompiani in 2026.
(Source: ANSA agency – https://www.ansa.it/sito/notizie/dirette_live/2025/10/09/premio-nobel-per-la-letteratura-lannuncio_d25c7725-20de-48c1-b4af-047fd1b79742.html)
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