Swedish poet wins Nobel Prize in Literature

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The 2011 Nobel Prize in literature was awarded Thursday to Tomas Transtromer, a Swedish poet whose surrealistic works about the mysteries of the human mind won him acclaim as one of the most important Scandinavian writers since the Second World War.

Tomas Transtr?mer's works have been translated into more than 50 languages. (Ulla Montan/Albert Bonniers Forlag/Nobel Prize)

The Swedish Academy said it recognized the 80-year-old poet "because, through his condensed, translucent images, he gives us fresh access to reality."

Transtromer has been a perennial favorite for the 10 million kronor ($1.5 million) award, and in recent years Swedish journalists have waited outside his apartment in Stockholm on the day the literature prize was announced.

Transtromer's most famous works include the 1966 Windows and Stones, in which he depicts themes from his many travels and Baltics from 1974.

His works have been translated into more than 50 languages and influenced poets around the globe, particularly in North America.

In 2007, the Griffin Trust for Excellence in Poetry gave the Swedish poet a lifetime recognition award. The Canadian organization said Transtromer's work was "rife with juxtapositions of contrary and primal forces firmly rooted in the natural world, falling somewhere between dream and nightmare."

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