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2012 Literature Nobel winner

October 11, 2012

This year's winner of the Nobel Prize for literature has been announced. Chinese author Mo Yan is the 111th winner of the prestigious accolade.

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epa03427705 Undated image provided by Duke University of US researcher Robert Lefkowitz. The 2012 Nobel prize in chemistry has gone to two US researchers whose work shed light on how the billions of cells in our body sense their environments, it was announced in Stockholm, Sweden, 10 October 2012. Robert Lefkowitz and Brian Kobilka, both of the US, will share the prize of 8m Swedish kronor (US$1.2m). Their work focuses on G protein-coupled receptors, a number of proteins that reach through cell walls. EPA/DUKE UNIVERSITY PHOTOGRAPHY EDITORIAL USE ONLY/NO SALES EDITORIAL USE ONLY/NO SALES +++(c) dpa - Bildfunk+++
Mo Yan Literaturnobelpreis 2012 ARCHIVBILDImage: picture alliance/dpa

The Swedish Nobel Prize Committee awarded the 2012 Nobel Prize for literature to Chinese author Mo Yan on Thursday.

The last Chinese-language author to win a Nobel prize was Gao Xingjian in 2000.

Mo's use of imaginative prose and dark humor to write about modern China has earned him worldwide praise.

Chinese writer wins Nobel for literature

Throughout his three-decade long career, the Chinese writer has penned numerous works of fiction. Very little of his opus has been censored by the authorities, even though he's known for writing about current issues in modern day China. His most recent work, "Frogs," for example, deals with the government's family-planning policy.

Other notable works of his include the novels "Big Breasts and Wide Hips," "Republic of Wine," and "Red Sorghum," which director Zhang Yimou adapted into a film in 1987.

Mo Yan, whose real name is Guan Moye, was born in 1955 in Gaomi in Shandong province. His penname "Mo Yan" means "don't speak" in Mandarin. Mo began writing in the 1980s while serving in the People's Liberation Army.

kms/mz (Reuters, AFP, dpa)