Belarusian scoops Nobel literature award with journalistic efforts

Belarussian author Svetlana Alexievich answers journalists' questions after a news conference in Minsk, Belarus, October 8, 2015. [Photo/Agencies]

Belarusian author Svetlana Alexievich won the Nobel Prize for Literature on Thursday.

The Swedish Academy said her achievement was "a monument to suffering and courage in our time".

Alexievich, the 14th woman to win the literature award since 1901, used her reporting skills to create literature chronicling World War II, the Soviet war in Afghanistan, the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster and social problems like attempted suicides after the Soviet Union disintegrated.

Born in 1948 in Ukraine, Alexievich is best known for her nonfictional book Voices From Chernobyl: The Oral History of a Nuclear Disaster.

It was the first time the Swedish Academy has honored journalistic work, according to its permanent secretary, Sara Danius.

"She has invented a new literary genre. She transcends journalistic formats and has pressed ahead with a genre that others have helped create," said Danius.

"If you removed her works from the shelves, there would be gaping holes. That says a lot about how original she is."

Her first novel, The Unwomanly Face of the War, published in 1985 and based on the previously untold stories of women who fought against the German invaders, sold more than 2 million copies.

Danius told Swedish broad-caster SVT that she had contacted Alexievich just before the announcement was made.

"She said one word: 'Fantastic'," Danius said.

Literature was the fourth of this year's Nobel Prizes. They are named after dynamite inventor Alfred Nobel and have been awarded since 1901 in accordance with his will.