On October 8, 2020 Mats Malm, Permanent Secretary of the Swedish Academy announced the Nobel Prize in Literature 2020 to 77 year old Louise Glück, American Poet and essayist “for her unmistakable poetic voice that with austere beauty makes individual existence universal”.
Points to be Noted
She is the 3rd american woman to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature after Toni Morrison in 1993 and Pearl Buck in 1938. She is also the 16th woman to receive this prize in literature.
About Louise Glück
i.Louise Glück made her literary debut with her work Firstborn, a collection of poems in 1968.
ii.She has authored 12 collections of poetry, including the recent collections Faithful and Virtuous Night (2014) and several volumes of essays on poetry.
iii.Her notable works includeThe Triumph of Achilles (1985).
iv.Currently she is a writer-in-residence at Yale University and lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Awards & Honours
i.She has won many awards including
- Pulitzer Prize for her poetry book, The Wild Iris (1992).
- National Book Award for her latest collection, “Faithful and Virtuous Night”, in 2014.
- Bollingen Prize in 2001, National Humanities Medal in 2015.
ii.She was named as the 12th US Poet Laureate in 2003.
iii.She received fellowships from the Guggenheim and Rockefeller Foundations, and from the National Endowment for the Arts.
Gold Medal & Prize amount
The award comprises a gold medal and prize money of 10 million Swedish kronor (more than USD 1.1 million).
General Info
i.Rabindranath Tagore received Nobel prize in literature in literature in 1913 and became
the 1st Indian and 1st Asian to win a nobel prize. He also became the 1st non European to win a Nobel prize in literature.
ii.Rudyard Kipling born in India won in 1907.
iii.Indian origin Sir Vidiadhar Surajprasad Naipaul in 2001.
Recent Related News:
On 7th September 2020, Over a virtual event, Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh conferred the Indira Gandhi Peace Prize for the year 2019 upon Sir David Attenborogh, a British broadcaster. Sonia Gandhi, President of Congress was also present during the event.
