The 2014 Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded this morning to French author Patrick Modiano "for the art of memory with which he has evoked the most ungraspable human destinies and uncovered the life-world of the occupation."
The winner was announced this morning by Swedish Academy Permanent Secretary Peter Englund, who was wearing a pink "breast cancer awareness" ribbon on his lapel. The presentation, in all languages delivered, took less than a minute and a half.
French-household name Modiano, author of 1978's "Missing Person," was the likely winner per betting firm, Ladbrokes, according to the AP.
The 70-year-old author has written 30 short novels since the 1960s, focusing mainly on identity and memory loss, The Local, Sweden's news in English, reports.
His father was of Jewish-Italian origins and met his Belgian actress mother during the occupation of Paris, and his beginnings have strongly influenced his writing, AP reports.
Modiano is known to avoid media and does not often grant interviews. As of this morning, members of the Swedish Academy said they were unable to contact Modiano, according to the article.
The owner of the small indie press that published "Missing Person" is David R. Godine, The Washington Post reports. Godine missed the announcements this morning "because he was in Dublin, N.H., staking his dahlias in the garden. Reached by phone, he exclaimed, 'This means we'll be ahead this year!'"
Yahoo News U.K. and Ireland cited past winners of the prize: US singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, Syrian poet Adunis, Canadian poet and novelist Margaret Atwood, British novelist Salman Rushdie and Austrian novelist Peter Handke.
The Swedish Academy awards Nobel Prize winners with 8 million kronor (around $1.1 million), according to the AP. The winners are given their prize money on Dec. 10, the anniversary of Alfred Nobel's death, TownHall.com recounted.
The Nobel Peace Prize will be announced on Friday, Oct. 10 at 5 a.m. EST.
The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences, in Memory of Alfred Nobel, will be announced on Monday, Oct. 13, no earlier than 7 a.m. EST.
