2017 Nobel Prize for Literature Winner: Kazuo Ishiguro.

Kazuo Ishiguro is of Japanese descent but has lived in England since he was five after his family left Nagasaki in 1960. The 62 year old writer focuses mostly on Science Fiction genre but has hands in Drama and Historical Fiction. A celebrated name among literary circles, Ishiguro was named among the 50 Greatest British writers in 2005 from as far back as 1945.

The Nobel Prize for Literature was awarded to him on the note that his “novels of great emotional force, has uncovered the abyss beneath our illusory sense of connection with the world”. He was overjoyed with the award yesterday and said:

“It is a magnificent honor, mainly because it means that I’m in the footsteps of the greatest authors that have lived, so that’s a terrific commendation.”

Then he went on to show what he hopes to accomplish through his works:

“I hope all the Nobel Prizes would be a force for something positive in the world as it is at the moment. I’ll be deeply moved if I could in some way be part of some climate this year in contributing to some sort of positive atmosphere at a very uncertain time.”

He once in an interview admitted that he is always drawn to prewar or postwar settings because he likes to challenge values and ideas and make his characters face the notion that “their ideals weren’t what they thought they were”. Mostly (with the exception of the book The Buried Giant) Ishuguro writes in the first person narrative and most of his works ends on a sort of melancholic resignation.

In several interviews he has pointed out that his worldly views are through the lenses of Japanese despite spending most of his life in Britain because his parents had instilled much of the Japanese culture in him.

Going back to his childhood dream of becoming a singer and songwriter, he has co-written songs with Jazz singer Stacey Kent and even contributed the lyrics of her Grammy-nominated Album Breakfast on the Morning Tram.

There has been mild dissents as to how a science-fiction writer could have clinched the Nobel Prize for literature but it is not as loud as that which came about when it was announced last year that Bob Dylan (a musician and songwriter) was the winner, and nobody can really raise an eyebrow without traces of having their favorites lose out on the prize, because Kazuo Ishiguro has a long line of praises heralding his win. for literature