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PEOPLE & ARTS Friday 11 OctOber 2019
Olga Tokarczuk, Peter Handke win Nobel literature prizes

Associated Press all the way through.
STOCKHOLM (AP) — Pol- Polish President Andrzej
ish novelist Olga Tokarczuk Duda called it a "great day
and Austrian author Pe- for Polish literature" on Twit-
ter Handke — two writers ter.
whose works are deeply Tokarczuk is only the 15th
intertwined in Europe's re- woman to win the Nobel
ligious, ethnic and social literature prize in more than
fault lines — won the 2018 a century. Of the 11 Nobels
and 2019 Nobel Prizes for lit- awarded so far this week,
erature on Thursday. all the other laureates have
The rare double announce- been men.
ment came after no litera- Both winners will receive
ture prize was awarded last a full cash prize, valued
year due to sex-abuse al- this year at 9 million kronor
legations that tarnished the ($918,000), a gold medal
Swedish Academy, which and a diploma.
awards the literature prize. The literature prize was can-
Yet if prize organizers celed last year after an ex-
hoped to get through this odus of members from the
year's awards without con- exclusive Swedish Acade-
troversy, they will likely be my, which chooses the win-
disappointed. ners, following sex- abuse
The Swedish Academy allegations. Jean-Claude
called Handke "one of the Arnault, the husband of a
most influential writers in Eu- former academy member,
rope" after World War II and was convicted last year of
praised his work for explor- two rapes in 2011.
ing "the periphery and the In this Feb. 12, 2017 photo Polish author Olga Tokarczuk spekas during a press conference in Ber- The Nobel Foundation had
specificity of human expe- lin, Germany. warned that another group
rience" with linguistic inge- Associated Press could award the literature
nuity. prize if the academy didn't
But the 76-year-old author was chosen for works that Serb troops massacred Tokarcuzk has been at- improve its tarnished im-
has long faced criticism explore the "crossing of some 8,000 Bosnian Muslim tacked by Polish conser- age, but said in March it
for his vigorous defense of boundaries as a form of men and boys in the en- vatives — and received was satisfied the Swedish
the Serbs during the 1990s life." clave of Srebrenica in 1995, death threats — for criticiz- Academy had revamped
wars that devastated the Beginning with his first nov- and was an opponent of ing aspects of the country's itself and restored trust.
Balkans as Yugoslavia dis- el, "The Hornets," in 1966, NATO's airstrikes against Ser- past, including its episodes The 2018 and 2019 awards
integrated. He spoke at the Handke made his name bia for that country's violent of anti-Semitism. She is also were chosen by the Swed-
2006 funeral of former Serbi- with works that combine in- crackdown in Kosovo in the a strong critic of Poland's ish Academy's Nobel Com-
an leader Slobodan Milos- trospection and a provoc- late 1990s. In an interview current right-wing govern- mittee, a new body made
evic, who at the time was ative streak. One early play with Serbia's state TV earlier ment. up of four academy mem-
facing war crimes charges, was called "Offending the this year Handke said those Her 2014 novel "The Books of bers and five "external
calling him "a rather tragic Audience" and featured behind the bombing "don't Jacob" tackles the forced specialists." Nobel orga-
man." actors insulting theatergo- belong to Europe and the conversion of Polish Jews to nizers say the committee
Handke — who once ers. planet Earth." Catholicism in the 18th cen- suggests two names that
called for the Nobel Prize He has written screenplays, Handke's views led novel- tury. Her book "Drive Your then must be approved
to be abolished — said he several of them for German ist Salman Rushdie in 1999 Plow Over the Bones of the by the Swedish Academy.
was "astonished" to receive director Wim Wenders, who to call him a contender for Dead" is a crime thriller with It's unclear whether acad-
the award. also filmed Handke's 1970 "International Moron of the feminist and animal-rights emy members simply rub-
"I never thought they would novel "The Goalie's Anxiety Year." Rushdie's publicist at themes that offers a some- ber-stamped the experts'
choose me," Handke told at the Penalty Kick." Penguin Random House times unflattering depiction choice.
reporters outside his home He was praised by the said Thursday that Rushdie of small-town Polish life. Anders Olsson, chair of the
near Paris. Swedish Academy for writ- stood by what he wrote in She won the Booker Inter- Swedish Academy's Nobel
"It was very courageous ing powerfully about catas- 1999. national Prize in 2018 for Committee, said "we are
by the Swedish academy, trophe, notably in "A Sorrow In 2006, Handke turned "Flights," which combines not ready to evaluate this
this kind of decision," he Beyond Dreams," his 1972 down the Heinrich Heine tales of modern-day travel new process yet."
added. "These are good autobiographical novel award from the German with the story of a 17th-cen- In his will, Swedish industrial-
people." about his mother's suicide. city of Duesseldorf after his tury anatomist who dissect- ist and dynamite inventor
If Handke's victory caused But his staunch support of selection sparked a row ed his own amputated leg Alfred Nobel designated
uncomfortable ripples, the the Serbs during the 1990s among the city's politicians. and the journey of com- the Swedish Academy as
choice of Tokarczuk was Balkans wars has set him His selection as winner of poser Frederic Chopin's the institution responsible
welcomed by liberal-mind- at odds with many other the International Ibsen heart from Paris to Warsaw for the Nobel Prize in lit-
ed authors and readers in Western intellectuals. Award for drama in 2014 after his death. erature. Nobel decided
her native Poland and be- In a 1996 essay, "Justice for also prompted protests Poland's Culture Minister the physics, chemistry and
yond. Serbia," Handke accused from human rights groups. Piotr Glinski, who said ear- medicine prizes should be
The 57-year-old novel- Western news media of de- The same year, he told the lier this week that he has awarded in Stockholm, and
ist is one of Poland's best- picting Serbs as aggressors Austrian Press Agency that not finished any of Tokar- the peace prize in Oslo.
known authors, known for in the wars that led to the the Nobel Prize should be czuk's books, tweeted his The coveted Nobel Peace
her humanist themes and breakup of Yugoslavia. He abolished because of its congratulations and said Prize will be awarded on
playful, subversive streak. denied that genocide was "false canonization" of lit- he now felt obliged to go Friday and the economics
The academy said she committed when Bosnian erature. back and read her books award on Monday.q