Double Feature

The winners of the Nobel Prize in literature for 2018 and 2019 are both authors noted for tackling contemporary topics from a fresh perspective, Mei Jia reports.

Polish writer Olga Tokarczuk and Austrian author and playwright Peter Handke were announced as winners of the Nobel Prize in literature for 2018 and 2019 respectively on Thursday.

The Swedish Academy made the announcement after delaying the award last year.

Tokarczuk was awarded the prize for her "narrative imagination that with encyclopedic passion represents the crossing of boundaries as a form of life", while Handke was rewarded for his "influential work that with linguistic ingenuity has explored the periphery and the specificity of human experience", according to the Nobel's official website.

The result was not surprising to many Chinese literary insiders, because the two have long been familiar to Chinese literature lovers, especially Handke. The Chinese media have long suggested the writers as potential Nobel Prize-winners.

"It's finally, Peter Handke," Jiang Fangzhou, a writer representing the voice of the younger generation of Chinese readers, said on social media.