Books of American poet Louise Gluck during the announcement of 2020 Nobel Prize in literature at Borshuset in Stockholm, October 8, 2020. Gluck won the prize. TT News Agency/Henrik Montgomery/via Reuters
Stockholm: American poet Louise Gluck has won the 2020 Nobel Prize in Literature for "her unmistakable poetic voice that with austere beauty makes individual existence universal", the Swedish Academy said on Thursday.
Academy Permanent Secretary Mats Malm said Gluck was "surprised and happy" at the news despite receiving it in the early morning North American time.
A professor at Yale University, Gluck, 77, made her debut in 1968 with "Firstborn", and is seen as one of the most prominent poets in American contemporary literature.
Her poetry is characterised by "a striving for clarity", the Academy said, with a focus on childhood, family life, and close relationships between parents and siblings.
"In her poems, the self listens for what is left of its dreams and delusions, and nobody can be harder than she in confronting the illusions of the self," the Academy said.
The Nobel prizes are named after dynamite inventor and wealthy businessman Alfred Nobel and have been awarded since 1901 for achievements in science, literature and peace in accordance with his will.
Nobel prizes for medicine, physics and chemistry were awarded earlier this week, and the peace prize is to be announced on Friday.
File photo taken on September 22, 2016 shows then US President Barack Obama presenting poet Louise Gluck with the 2015 National Humanities Medal during a ceremony in the East Room of the White House in Washington, DC. AFP / Saul Loeb
Like much of public life around the world, this year's awards have taken place under the shadow of the coronavirus pandemic, which led to the cancellation of the splashy Nobel prize-giving ceremony held each December in Stockholm.
Instead, a televised event will be held with winners receiving their honours in their home countries.
