General

Chinese author Mo Yan wins Nobel Prize in Literature

Author Mo Yan marked a first for China when he became the only Chinese person to win the Nobel Prize for Literature Thursday.

Yan, 57, was awarded the prize for his style of “hallucinatory realism” that “merges folk tales, history and the contemporary.”

Yan’s subject matter often revolves around rural life, with elements of fantasy mixed in. The son of peasant farmers, Yan left school at age 12 to work in the fields. He eventually got an education during military service and has been writing since the 1980s.

Many of Yan’s books have been translated into English. One of his best-known titles is Red Sorghum, which was also made into an internationally successful movie.

Yan will be awarded with the prize during a ceremony on Dec. 10.

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