On Thursday, Norwegian playwright Jon Fosse was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. His plays have been performed in more countries than any other modern playwright.

Fosse's work is minimalistic and sometimes likened to that of Samuel Beckett, another Nobel Prize-winning writer, who also relies on simple syntax to convey his ideas through rhythm, harmony, and silence.
The 64-year-old was recognized, according to the Swedish Academy, "for his innovative plays and prose, which give voice to the unsayable."

In Fosse's writing, form is more important than content, and what is left unsaid is frequently more telling than what is.

The jury concluded that Fosse "presents everyday situations that are instantly recognizable in our own lives."

"His radical reduction of language and dramatic action expresses the most powerful human emotions of anxiety and powerlessness in the simplest terms," the statement continued.

He is currently one of the most often performed playwrights in the world, but the judges noted that he is also gaining popularity for his prose.

Fosse issued a statement expressing profound gratitude. The author stated, "This award is for literature that strives to be literature above all else."

Speaking to Norwegian public television NRK, he said that he was "surprised but also not," even though his name had been cited in Nobel rumors for a while.

I was accustomed to the anticipation surrounding it, but I was accustomed to missing out.

Plays, novels, poetry collections, essays, children's books, and translations are among Fosse's works written in Nynorsk, a written form of Norwegian that 10% of the population uses.

Anders Olsson, the chairman of the Nobel committee, told reporters that Fosse is a trailblazer because he can evoke the feeling of being lost and disoriented, which can paradoxically lead to a deeper understanding of oneself and the world around us, even to the point of feeling connected to something divine.

"Boathouse" (1989) and "Melancholy" I and II (1995–1996) are a few of his best pieces.

Fosse, who was born in the fjords of western Norway, is typically seen wearing all black and sporting a few days' worth of stubble.

Growing up in a conservative Lutheran household, he found rebellion and a way to express his atheism through joining a band. In the end, he became a Catholic in 2013.

After completing his literary studies, he achieved success with the time-traveling book "Red, Black" in 1983.

His most recent work, "Septology," is a semi-autobiographical epic opus that spans seven parts over three volumes and contains 1,250 pages without a single full stop.

The third book was included on the shortlist for the International Booker Prize in 2022.

In the early 1990s, Fosse, a struggling novelist, was requested to write the opening scene of a play.

During a conversation with a French theatrical website, he once remarked, "I knew, I felt, that this kind of writing was made for me."

He loved the genre so much that he composed the complete play "Someone is Going to Come," which led to his big break when it was performed in Paris in 1999.

"Even in this early work, with its themes of fearful expectation and dreadful jealousy, Fosse's originality is abundantly evident. Olsson commented that with his extreme verbal restraint and dramatic movement, he captures the essential ambivalence and anxiety of the human situation.

In 1994, Fosse's subsequent piece, "And We'll Never be Parted," received critical acclaim on a global scale.

His Norwegian publisher, Samlaget, claims that his plays have been performed more than a thousand times in different countries.

About 50 other languages have versions of his writings.

In the conventional meaning of the phrase, I don't write about characters. In 2003, Fosse stated to the French daily Le Monde, "I write about humanity.

Fosse won the International Ibsen Award in 2010, one of the most prestigious awards in the theater industry, and was inevitably likened to Norway's national playwright Henrik Ibsen.

The Swedish Academy has committed to creating a more international and gender-equal literature prize in response to long-standing claims that the Nobel is a male-dominated award, which were followed by the terrible #MeToo scandal in 2018.

Since then, it has recognized three men—Austrian novelist Peter Handke, Tanzanian writer Abdulrazak Gurnah, and Fosse—as well as three women—France's Annie Ernaux, the US poet Louise Gluck, and Poland's Olga Tokarczuk.