Swedish Poet Tomas Tranströmer Wins Nobel Prize in Literature

The Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded today to Tomas Tranströmer, a Swedish poet who was recognized for giving “fresh access to reality” through “his condensed, transluscent images,” according to a citation by the Swedish Academy. The choice of a native son was met with applause at the news conference in Stockholm. According to a short literary biography posted by the academy, many of Mr. Tranströmer’s works are available in English translation through, among other publishers, the University of Pittsburgh Press.

Mr. Tranströmer, who was trained as a psychologist and worked briefly at Stockholm University’s Institute for Psychometrics, will receive the prize, worth about $1.5-million this year, at a ceremony in December. More about Mr. Tranströmer, including the text of three of his poems, can be found on the Poetry Foundation’s Web site. Today’s Nobel Prize is the fourth announced this week, following the prizes in physiology or medicine on Monday, physics on Tuesday, and chemistry on Wednesday.