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Hungarian Krasznahorkai gets 2025 Literature Nobel Prize

Krasznahorkai is referred to by his publisher as the “master of literary hallucination”

Hungarian writer László Krasznahorkai was honored with the 2025 Literature Nobel Prize for his “compelling and visionary work that affirms the power of art amidst apocalyptic horror,” Mats Malm, Permanent Secretary and Spokesperson for the Swedish Academy, announced in Stockholm on Thursday.

The jurors praised Krasznahorkai's “extraordinary linguistic vitality,” his “powerful, musically inspired epic style,” and “great lyrical beauty,” placing him in the Central European literary tradition of Franz Kafka and Thomas Bernhard.

His debut novel, “Satanstango,” published in 1985, and many other works have received international awards, and some of them have been made into films. Krasznahorkai was born on January 5, 1954, in Gyula, Hungary. He first studied law in Szeged, then Hungarian Language and Literature, and Philosophy in Budapest. He now lives most of the year in Vienna and Trieste.

The winner, who is famous for his stylish absurdism and grotesque exaggeration, expressed his happiness and pride, stating he did not expect the “fantastic news.” He thanked his readers and hoped people would regain their capacity for fantasy. He planned to celebrate with “port wine and champagne” in Frankfurt.

But before that, he had to deal with German bureaucracy and visit the “Anmeldeamt” (registration office) to record his residence in Germany because, at the time of the announcement, the 71-year-old author was in Frankfurt visiting his German publisher, S. Fischer Verlag.

“I am very happy and very proud to be in a line-up that includes so many truly great writers and poets,” Krasznahorkai said.