Hungarian postmodern novelist László Krasznahorkai has won the 2025 Nobel Prize in Literature, honored for “his compelling and visionary body of work that, amid apocalyptic terror, reaffirms the enduring power of art.”
The Nobel Committee hailed Krasznahorkai for his “artistic gaze—stripped of illusion yet deeply aware of the fragility of social order—paired with an unshakable faith in the transformative force of art.”
He becomes the first Hungarian laureate since Imre Kertész, who received the prize in 2002.
BREAKING NEWS
— The Nobel Prize (@NobelPrize) October 9, 2025
The 2025 #NobelPrize in Literature is awarded to the Hungarian author László Krasznahorkai “for his compelling and visionary oeuvre that, in the midst of apocalyptic terror, reaffirms the power of art.” pic.twitter.com/vVaW1zkWPS
The 71-year-old novelist and screenwriter’s dystopian novels have won numerous prizes over the years, including the Man Booker International Prize in 2015 and the 2019 National Book award for translated literature.
Many of László Krasznahorkai’s works—known for their melancholic tone and long, labyrinthine sentences—have been adapted into acclaimed feature films. His novels “Sátántangó” (1985) and “The Melancholy of Resistance” (1989) were both brought to the screen by legendary Hungarian director Béla Tarr, with whom Krasznahorkai has shared a long and celebrated creative partnership.
Beyond adaptations, Krasznahorkai also co-wrote several of Tarr’s films, including Damnation (1988), the seven-hour epic Sátántangó (1994), Werckmeister Harmonies (2000)—based on The Melancholy of Resistance—and the widely praised The Turin Horse (2011), often regarded as one of Tarr’s masterpieces.
Speaking to Euronews Culture, Frédéric Cambourakis, director of the French publishing house Éditions Cambourakis, said:
“This is a well-deserved award for László Krasznahorkai, one of Europe’s greatest writers. We are immensely proud to have supported and championed his work over the years.”
He went on to thank Joëlle Dufeuilly, Krasznahorkai’s longtime French translator, praising her for ensuring that “his voice is conveyed with exceptional beauty in France.”
