Nobel prize for literature awarded to Olga Tokarczuk and Peter Handke
Polish author Olga Tokarczuk and Austrian writer Peter Handke have both been awarded the Nobel prize for literature.
Tokarczuk, who was lauded for her “narrative imagination” and “encyclopedic passion”, was handed the prestigious award for 2018.
Read more: Nationwide scoops £50m prize for small business lending
Handke scooped up the prize for this year and was praised for his “linguistic ingenuity”.
The unusual double award ceremony came after the Swedish Academy, which selects the winners, became embroiled in a sexual assault and financial misconduct scandal that forced it to postpone the 2018 prize.
The body has since appointed new members and overhauled some of its rules in a bid to regain trust.
Former psychologist Tokarczuk published her first novel in 1993 and has since released a string of popular works, including Flight, which won the Man Booker international prize last year.
She has sparked outrage among supporters of Poland’s ruling nationalist party due to her portrayal of dark aspects of the country’s history, including colonialism.
Read more: Stagecoach dropped Turner Prize sponsor after just one day
Handke’s career has spanned more than half a century, and works such as A Sorrow Beyond Dreams have made him one of the most influential European writers since the Second World War, the Academy said.
The Austrian has also been the subject of some controversy due to his support of the Serbs during the 1990s Yugoslav war and his decision to speak at the funeral of Serb leader Slobodan Milosevic, who was accused of war crimes.
Main image credit: Getty