Hungarian author László Krasznahorkai wins Nobel Prize in Literature for his visionary body of work

Highlights:

• László Krasznahorkai honored for his “compelling and visionary oeuvre”
  
• The 71-year-old joins Hungary’s literary greats, following Imre Kertész’s 2002 win
  
• His works, known for their philosophical depth and dark humor, inspired several acclaimed films
  

A master of the modern epic

Hungarian novelist László Krasznahorkai has been awarded the 2025 Nobel Prize in Literature for what the Swedish Academy called his “compelling and visionary oeuvre that, in the midst of apocalyptic terror, reaffirms the power of art.”

The Nobel committee praised the author’s unique style, novels built from long, spiraling sentences that capture chaos, absurdity, and endurance. Krasznahorkai’s best-known works, Satantango and The Melancholy of Resistance, were adapted into celebrated films by Hungarian director Béla Tarr.

Steve Sem-Sandberg of the Nobel committee described the writer’s work as one that “sees through the fragility of the social order” yet carries an “unwavering belief in the power of art.”

Literary legacy and global recognition

Krasznahorkai, 71, is regarded as one of Central Europe’s greatest living writers, often compared to Franz Kafka and Thomas Bernhard for his bleak humor and exploration of the human condition.

He previously received the Man Booker International Prize in 2015, with judges lauding his “extraordinary sentences of incredible length” and shifting emotional tones. In 2019, he also won the National Book Award for Translated Literature in the United States for Baron Wenckheim’s Homecoming.

American writer Susan Sontag once hailed him as the “contemporary master of the Apocalypse.” Krasznahorkai was also known to share a friendship with Beat poet Allen Ginsberg, often staying at Ginsberg’s apartment while visiting New York.

Continuing Hungary’s Nobel legacy

Krasznahorkai is the first Hungarian laureate in literature since Imre Kertész, who received the honor in 2002. His win places him among an esteemed group that includes Ernest Hemingway, Toni Morrison, and Kazuo Ishiguro.

This year’s literature prize is the fourth Nobel announced for 2025, following awards in medicine, physics, and chemistry. The Nobel Peace Prize will be revealed on Friday, followed by the economics prize on Monday.

Each Nobel Prize carries a reward of 11 million Swedish kronor (nearly $1.2 million), along with an 18-carat gold medal and a diploma. The official award ceremony will take place on December 10 in Stockholm, marking the anniversary of Alfred Nobel’s death.