2008 Nobel Prize in Literature

The 2008 Nobel Prize in Literature has been awarded to Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clézio. The prize was announced by the Swedish Academy in Stockholm on 9 October 2008.

The citation

The citation reads: "author of new departures, poetic adventure and sensual ecstasy, explorer of a humanity beyond and below the reigning civilization".

The laureate

Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clézio was born in 1940 in Nice, France.

Why it matters

The French writer, who has lived in many countries, is known for novels including Desert. His work often explores cultures beyond Western civilisation.

The prize

The prize is worth 10 million Swedish kronor. It will be presented at a ceremony in Stockholm on 10 December, the anniversary of the death of Alfred Nobel, the Swedish inventor of dynamite whose will founded the prizes in 1895.