Jon Fosse

the Guardian
Jon Fosse wins the 2023 Nobel prize in literature

The Norwegian author of novels, short stories and
Pinteresque drama was praised by the judges for
‘giving voice to the unsayable’
Read the opening of Jon Fosse’s The Other Name
Ella Creamer
Thu 5 Oct 2023 14.10 BST
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The Nobel prize in literature has been awarded to 64-year-old Norwegian
author Jon Fosse “for his innovative plays and prose which give voice to
the unsayable”. His works include the Septology series of novels, Aliss at
the Fire, Melancholy and A Shining.
“His huge oeuvre, spanning a variety of genres, comprises about 40 plays
and a wealth of novels, poetry collections, essays, children’s books and
translations,” said Anders Olsson, chairman of the Nobel committee for
literature. “Fosse combines his language and nature of his Norwegian
background with artistic techniques in the wake of modernism.”
1. How old was Jon Fosse when he got the prize?
2. Why was he awarded the prize?
3. What genres does his literature cover?
4. What does his work combine?
“I am overwhelmed, and somewhat frightened. I see this as an award to
the literature that first and foremost aims to be literature, without other
considerations,” Fosse said in a statement.
He also told the Norwegian public broadcaster NRK that he was
“surprised but also not” to have won. “I’ve been part of the discussion for
10 years and have more and less tentatively prepared myself that this
could happen,” he said.
Jacques Testard, Fosse’s fiction publisher, said on hearing the news: “He
is an exceptional writer, who has managed to find a totally unique way of
writing fiction. As his Norwegian editor Cecilie Seiness put it recently in
an interview: if you open any book by Jon and read a couple of lines, it
couldn’t be written by anyone else.
5. How does he feel?
6. Was he surprised he won the award?
7. Mention his editor and publisher
8. Does his work have a unique and recognizable style? explain
“His fiction is incantatory, mystical, and rooted in the landscape of the
western fjords where he grew up,” Testard added. “It’s very important to
remember that he writes in Nynorsk or New Norwegian, a minority
language in Norway, a political act in itself. He’s also an exceptional
playwright and poet. He’s an incredible mind, and it couldn’t have
happened to a nicer person.”
9. Describe the features/ characteristics of his work
10. What language does he write? Explain why it is a political act.
The Norwegian writer’s English translator Damion Searls said he is
thrilled Fosse’s work will now find an even wider audience. “I first
brought Fosse’s fiction into English almost 20 years ago. I read
Melancholy in German and immediately felt that the work was brilliant
and needed to be translated. I found an American publisher and a co-
translator, and started learning Norwegian”, he told the Guardian. “I have
since translated around 10 books of his, depending on how you count
them, including a libretto, a play and a forthcoming children’s book.”
Though the author and translator mostly communicate via email and
hadn’t met in person until the 2022 International Booker prize events in
London, Searls considers Fosse a friend. “He is the same kind, wise,
modest, friendly, supportive person over email as you would expect from
his novels, and corresponding with him has always brought me the same
kind of peace and serenity his novels so magically impart.”
11. Who is his translator in English?
12.In what language was Melancholy written?
13.How many of his works or oeuvre did he translate?
14.Did Translator and writer know in person?
Born in 1959 in Haugesund on the west coast of Norway, Fosse grew up in
Strandebarm. Aged seven, he nearly died in an accident, which he said
was “the most important experience” of his childhood and one that
“created” him as an artist. In his adolescence, he aspired to be a rock
guitarist, before turning his ambitions to writing.
His debut novel, Raudt, svart (Red, Black), was published in 1983. His
first play to be performed, Og aldri skal vi skiljast (And Never Shall We
Part), was staged at the National Theater in Bergen in 1994. Yet, the first
play he wrote, Nokon kjem til å komme (Someone Is Going to Come),
would lead to his breakthrough in 1999 when French director Claude Régy
staged it in Nanterre.
Fosse went on to become the most-performed Norwegian playwright after
Henrik Ibsen. He has written more than 30 plays, including Namnet (The
Name), Vinter (Winter) and Ein sommars dag (A Summer’s Day). His
longer works include the Septology trilogy, the third volume of which was
shortlisted for the international Booker prize in 2022.
Septology, which Fosse started during a pause from playwriting and after
converting to Catholicism in 2013, is about an ageing painter, Asle, living
alone on the south-west coast of Norway and reflecting on his life. There
in Bjørgvin lives another Asle, who is also a painter but struggles with
alcohol. The doppelgangers are consumed by the same existential
questions about death, faith and love.
Jon Fosse: 'The idea of writing another play doesn't give me pleasure'
In 1989, the same year that Fosse’s novel Naustet (“Boathouse”) came out,
the writer taught the fellow Norwegian author Karl Ove Knausgård, who
was a student at the Academy of Writing in Hordaland. “Fosse’s voice is
unmistakable in whatever he writes, and is never anything if not present,”
wrote Knausgård in 2019.
Fosse’s UK publisher is Fitzcarraldo Editions, which also publishes Annie
Ernaux, the winner of the 2022 Nobel prize in literature. Fosse’s win
marks the London-based independent publisher’s third win in five years:
Olga Tokarczuk was made laureate in 2018. The prize was postponed and
awarded in 2019 instead due to a sexual assault scandal involving the
husband of one of the academy’s former members which led to several
members resigning.
Fosse resides between Austria and Norway. He will receive the prize at a
ceremony in Stockholm on 10 December. He will receive 11m SEK
(£821,209), up from 10m SEK awarded last year.
 To explore all books by Jon Fosse, visit guardianbookshop.com. Delivery
charges may apply.

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the Guardian

Jon Fosse wins the 2023 Nobel prize in literature

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