Belarusian writer wins Nobel prize in literature

Belarusian journalist Svetlana Alexievich has won the 2015 Nobel Prize for Literature for her work, which the Swedish Academy described as “a monument to suffering and courage in our time”, The Washington Post reports.

The Nobel committee rarely chooses nonfiction writers for the literature prize. Alexievich is the author of, among other books, “Voices from Chernobyl,” about the survivors of the nuclear plant disaster in Ukraine in 1986.

The permanent secretary of the Swedish Academy, Sara Danius, made the announcement this morning in Stockholm.

But on Twitter, Alexievich may have released the news too soon. At least an hour before Danius appeared before the cameras, an account with the name @SvAlexievich tweeted, “Swedish Academy awarded to me the Nobel Prize in Literature 2015. I receive now a call from Sweden. I’m happy, very happy! Thanks.” It is not known if this unverified account is really that of Svetlana Alexievich.