(London) – British writer Kazuo Ishiguro has won the 2017 Nobel Prize for Literature.
The novelist was praised by the Swedish Academy as a writer “who, in novels of great emotional force, has uncovered the abyss beneath our illusory sense of connection with the world.”
His most famous novels The Remains of the Day and Never Let Me Go were adapted into highly acclaimed films.
The 62-year-old writer, made an OBE in 1995, said the award was “flabbergastingly flattering”.
He has written eight books, which have been translated into over 40 languages.
When contacted by the BBC, he admitted he had not been contacted by the Nobel committee and was not sure whether it was a hoax.
He said: “It’s a magnificent honour, mainly because it means that I’m in the footsteps of the greatest authors that have lived, so that’s a terrific commendation.”
He said he hoped the Nobel Prize would be a force for good. “The world is in a very uncertain moment and I would hope all the Nobel Prizes would be a force for something positive in the world as it is at the moment,” he said.
“I’ll be deeply moved if I could in some way be part of some sort of climate this year in contributing to some sort of positive atmosphere at a very uncertain time.”
