Peter Handke won the 2019 Nobel Prize in Literature for influential work that explored the periphery and specificity of human experience.
The Austrian author writes novels, plays, poetry, essays, and screenplays. His works often examine perception, language, isolation, travel, and the difficulty of describing ordinary reality. Notable books include The Goalie’s Anxiety at the Penalty Kick, Short Letter, Long Farewell, and Repetition.
The Swedish Academy announced Handke’s prize on 10 October 2019. The award attracted controversy because of his public positions concerning the Yugoslav Wars and his participation in the 2006 funeral of Serbian president Slobodan Milošević. The literary honor and the political debate surrounding it were widely discussed internationally.
Handke is distinct from Elfriede Jelinek, who won Austria’s previous Literature Nobel in 2004. Thomas Bernhard, another major Austrian writer, never received the prize.