2004 Nobel Prize in Literature

The 2004 Nobel Prize in Literature has been awarded to Elfriede Jelinek. The prize was announced by the Swedish Academy in Stockholm on 7 October 2004.

The citation

The citation reads: "for her musical flow of voices and counter-voices in novels and plays that with extraordinary linguistic zeal reveal the absurdity of society's clichés and their subjugating power".

The laureate

Elfriede Jelinek was born in 1946 in Mürzzuschlag, Austria.

Why it matters

The Austrian writer is known for novels such as The Piano Teacher and for plays that attack violence and hypocrisy in society.

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.