The 2025 Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded to László Krasznahorkai, Hungarian novelist and a former student of Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE). The University celebrates with a year-long programme series. On 18 September, ELTE will confer an honorary doctorate upon the Nobel Prize-winning author.
The work of László Krasznahorkai has been a major force in contemporary Hungarian and world literature for decades. Renowned for his visionary imagination and apocalyptic prose, he has created a unique literary universe distinguished by its linguistic virtuosity, philosophical depth, and engagement with universal human concerns. While rooted in the richest traditions of Hungarian literature, his writing has earned wide international recognition and continues to captivate readers across cultures and languages.
It is a particular honour for Eötvös Loránd University that this Nobel Prize-winning author once studied at our Faculty of Humanities. His work and international acclaim inspire all those devoted to the humanities, literature, and the arts. The Nobel Prize represents not only a personal achievement of the highest order, but also a source of pride for Hungarian literature and the ELTE community. It reaffirms that the values and intellectual traditions cultivated at our university continue to find recognition and resonance throughout the world.
ELTE pays tribute to its renowned alumnus with a dedicated year-long programme series launched in December 2025 and continuing through 2026. From February to December, the lecture series explores the works of László Krasznahorkai through interdisciplinary perspectives, including media studies, philosophy, musicology, and literary studies.
Within the framework of the ELTE Krasznahorkai Year, a series of special events will take place in autumn. On 18 September, Eötvös Loránd University will confer an honorary doctorate upon László Krasznahorkai. On 17 September, a programme series entitled Connections and Shared Spaces will be held at Trefort Garden in honour of the university’s former student.
As part of the programme series, ELTE will also organise two academic events in autumn: a public workshop for translators of Krasznahorkai’s works on 15 October, and a three-day international literary studies conference in English dedicated to his oeuvre between 10–12 November.
Biography of László Krasznahorkai
László Krasznahorkai was born on 5 January 1954 in Gyula, Hungary. He completed his primary and secondary education in Gyula, before continuing his studies at universities in Szeged and Budapest, where he initially studied law. Between 1978 and 1983, he studied Hungarian language and literature as well as cultural studies at the Faculty of Humanities of Eötvös Loránd University. His thesis focused on the émigré career of Sándor Márai.
His first publication appeared in 1977. His debut novel, Sátántangó (Satantango), was published in 1985. In 1994, the renowned director Béla Tarr adapted the novel into a film.
In 1987, he spent a year in West Berlin as a guest of the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD). In 1990, he travelled extensively in East Asia for the first time; his experiences in Mongolia and China later informed his works Az urgai fogoly and Rombolás és bánat az Ég alatt (Destruction and Sorrow beneath the Heavens).
Between 1992 and 1998, he undertook extensive travels across Europe and the United States in connection with his novel Háború és háború (War & War), visiting cities including Detroit, New York, Copenhagen, Helsingør, Cologne, London, Crete, Venice, and Rome.
He has received numerous awards, including Hungary’s highest state honour, the Kossuth Prize, and is a member of the Digital Literary Academy. In 2008, he served as a visiting professor at the Free University of Berlin. In June 2010, he received the Brücke Berlin Prize in Berlin.
On 18 May 2015, he was awarded the International Man Booker Prize. In 2019, he received the National Book Award for Translated Literature in the United States. In 2025, the Swedish Academy awarded him the Nobel Prize in Literature.
His works have been translated worldwide into the following languages: English, Bulgarian, Czech, Danish, Estonian, French, Galician, Greek, Hebrew, Dutch, Croatian, Icelandic, Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Polish, Lithuanian, Macedonian, German, Norwegian, Italian, Russian, Portuguese, Romanian, Spanish, Swedish, Serbian, Slovak, Slovenian, Turkish, and Vietnamese.
Works by László Krasznahorkai available in English:
The Melancholy of Resistance (trans. George Szirtes). London: Quartet Books, 1998, 288 pp. 2nd ed.: New York: New Directions, 2000, 314 pp.; 3rd ed.: New York: New Directions, 2002, 320 pp.; 4th ed.: London: Tuskar Rock, 2016, 336 pp.
War & War (trans. George Szirtes). New York: New Directions, 2006, 279 pp. (includes the short story Isaiah Has Come); 2nd ed.: London: Tuskar Rock, 2016, 288 pp.
AnimalInside (trans. Ottilie Mulzet). Paris: Center for Writers and Translators at the American University of Paris, 2010, 40 pp.; 2nd ed.: New York: New Directions, 2011, 40 pp.; 3rd ed.: New York: New Directions, 2012, 40 pp.
Sátántangó / Satantango (trans. George Szirtes). New York: New Directions, 2012, 320 pp.; 2nd ed.: London: Atlantic Books – Tuskar Rock, 2012, 320 pp.
The Bill – For Palma Vecchio, at Venice (trans. George Szirtes). London: Sylph Editions, 2013, 32 pp.
Seiobo There Below (trans. Ottilie Mulzet). New York: New Directions, 2013, 440 pp.; 2nd ed.: London: Tuskar Rock, 2015, 451 pp.
Destruction and Sorrow beneath the Heavens (trans. Ottilie Mulzet). Mumbai: Seagull Books, 2016, 320 pp.; 2nd ed.: 2018, 320 pp.
The Last Wolf & Herman (trans. George Szirtes & John Batki). New York: New Directions, 2016, 128 pp.; 2nd ed.: London: Tuskar Rock, 2017, 128 pp.
The Manhattan Project (Krasznahorkai László – Ornan Rotem; trans. John Batki). London: Sylph Editions, 2017, 92 pp.
The World Goes On (trans. George Szirtes). London: Tuskar Rock, 2017, 288 pp.; New York: New Directions, 2017, 288 pp.; London: Tuskar Rock, 2018, 288 pp.
Baron Wenckheim’s Homecoming (trans. Ottilie Mulzet). New York: New Directions, 2019, 576 pp.; London: Tuskar Rock, 2019.
Chasing Homer (trans. John Batki). New York: New Directions, 2021, 96 pp.
Herscht 07769 (trans. Ottilie Mulzet). New York: New Directions, 2024, 512 pp.