Swedish poet wins Nobel literature prize

Swedish poet wins Nobel literature prize

Swedish Academy announces that Tomas Transtromer will receive the prestigious award worth $1.48m.

The Swedish poet Tomas Transtromer has been awarded with the Nobel Literature Prize.

The Swedish Academy, announcing the winner in Stockholm on Thursday, said it recognised the 80-year-old poet "because, through his condensed, translucent images, he gives us fresh access to reality.''

Transtromer has been a perennial favorite for the $1.5m award, and in recent years Swedish journalists have waited outside his apartment in Stockholm on the day the literature prize was announced.

He is a trained psychologist and his works, which explore the relationship between our intimate inner selves and the world around us, have been described as "secular prayers".

His reputation in the English-speaking world owes much to his friendship with American poet Robert Bly, who has translated much of the Swede's work into English, one of 50 languages in which his poems have appeared.

He began writing at the age of 13, and published his first collection of poems, Seventeen Poems, in 1954.

His most famous works include the 1966 Windows and Stones in which he depicts themes from his many travels and Baltics from 1974.

In 1990, Transtromer suffered a stroke, which left him half-paralyzed and unable to speak, but he continued to write and published a collection of poems, The Great Enigma, in 2004.

The Literature Prize is the fourth and one of the most watched of the Nobel awards, following the prizes for medicine, physics and chemistry earlier this week.

Next in line is the Peace Prize, which will be announced on Friday.

This year's laureates will receive 10 million Swedish kronor ($1.48m) which can be split between up to three winners per prize.

Source: Agencies