The Nobel Prize in Literature for 2025 has been awarded to Hungarian author László Krasznahorkai, in recognition of his haunting, visionary body of work which “in the midst of apocalyptic terror reaffirms the power of art.”

Born in 1954 in the Hungarian town of Gyula, Krasznahorkai gradually built a reputation as a singular voice in world literature. His signature style winding, relentless sentences that seem to push human experience to its breaking point has often immersed readers in worlds stained by despair, collapse, and fragile hope.

His breakthrough novel Satantango (1985) painted a bleak, mesmerizing picture of life on a failing collective farm. Since then, Krasznahorkai has published works such as The Melancholy of Resistance, War & War, Baron Wenckheim’s Homecoming, and Herscht 07769, each interrogating themes of social decay, human folly, and the search for meaning amid chaos.

Beyond his apocalyptic narratives, Krasznahorkai has also turned his gaze eastward. His travel-inspired works, such as A Mountain to the North, a Lake to the South, Paths to the West, a River to the East and Seiobo There Below, reflect philosophical stillness, cultural intersection, and a widening of his artistic horizon.

In announcing the prize, the Swedish Academy emphasized that Krasznahorkai’s oeuvre “reaffirms the power of art” even in dire circumstances. His longest sentences have been praised as “sentences of incredible length that go to incredible lengths,” shifting tone between solemnity, madness, quizzicality, and desolation.

His English translator, poet George Szirtes, described Krasznahorkai’s world as hypnotic and expansive: “He draws you in until the world he conjures echoes until it’s your own vision of order and chaos.”

At 71, Krasznahorkai already counted among his honors the 2015 Man Booker International Prize. The 2025 Nobel in Literature adds to his stature as a profound literary force.

This year’s Nobel season continues; earlier prizes in Physics, Chemistry, and Medicine have already been awarded. The Literature prize, following them, stands out for celebrating not only technical brilliance but moral urgency.

In a world still grappling with uncertainty, Krasznahorkai’s win feels timely: a salute to the resilience of the written word, and to the audacity of vision in times of despair.