Jon Olav Fosse
The Nobel Prize in Literature 2023 

Born: 29 September 1959, Haugesund, Norway 

Residence at the time of the award: Norway; Austria 

Prize motivation: “for his innovative plays and prose which give voice to the unsayable” 

Language: Norwegian Nynorsk 

Prize share: 1/1

​

 

Jon Fosse is a Norwegian author , translator and playwright born in September 29, 1959.

 

Fosse's work spans over seventy novels, poems, children's books, essays, and theatre plays, which have been translated into over fifty languages. The most performed Norwegian playwright after Henrik Ibsen, and considered the most performed contemporary playwrights globally. His minimalist and deeply introspective plays, with language often bordering on lyrical prose and poetry have been noted to represent a modern continuation of the dramatic tradition established by Henrik Ibsen in the 19th century. Fosse's work has often been placed within the tradition of post-dramatic theatre.

 

A serious accident at age seven brought him close to death; the experience significantly influenced his writing in adulthood.He started writing around the age of twelve, despite Fosse's claims that he was not very concerned with books. As a teenager, Fosse was interested in becoming a rock guitarist, and he began to dedicate more time to writing once he gave up his musical ambitions. He also played the fiddle, and much of his teenage writing practice involved creating his own lyrics for musical pieces. Growing up, he was influenced by communism and anarchism and has described himself as a

" Hippie "

​

​

Fosse is the most performed Norwegian playwright after Henrik Ibsen. His works are seen as a modern continuation of the tradition established by Henrik Ibsen in the 19th century. Fosse himself mentions Samuel Beckett, as well as Georg Trakl and Thomas Bernhard as his elective relatives. Other authors and books that have influenced his life and work include Olav H. Hauge, Franz Kafka, William Faulkner, Virginia Woolf, and the Bible. In 2003, Fosse was made a chevalier of the Ordre national du Mérite of France. He has also been ranked number 83 on the list of the Top 100 living geniuses by The Daily Telegraph.

 

Since 2011, Fosse has been granted the Grotten, an honorary residence owned by the Norwegian state and located on the premises of the Royal Palace in the city centre of Oslo. The use of the Grotten as a permanent residence is an honour specially bestowed by the King of Norway for contributions to Norwegian arts and culture. He was among the literary consultants for Bibel 2011, a Norwegian translation of the Bible published in 2011. He was also awarded the 2015 Nordic Council's Literature Prize for the trilogy Andvake (Wakefulness), Olavs draumar (Olav's Dreams), and Kveldsvævd (Weariness).

​

​

Many of Fosse's works have been translated into Persian by Mohammad Hamed, and his dramatic works have been performed on the main stages in Tehran, Iran. Six of Fosse's plays have been translated into American-English by interdisciplinary artist Sarah Cameron Sunde, who also directed their American debut productions in New York City and Pittsburgh. The translated works which have been produced include Night Sings its Songs (2004), death variations (2006), SaKaLa (2008), A Summer Day (2012), and Dream of Autumn (2013).

​

In April 2022, Fosse's novel A New Name: Septology VI-VII, translated into English by Damion Searls, was shortlisted for the International Booker Prize.The book was named a finalist for the 2023 National Book Critics Circle Award in Fiction.

​

In October 2023, Fosse was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. This made him the first Nynorsk writer to receive the prize and the fourth Norwegian to win it, following Sigrid Undset, who won it in 1928.

​