Nobel Prize

English Salvatore Quasimodo’s speech at the Nobel Banquet at the City Hall in Stockholm, December 10, 1959 (Translation) I have always thought of Sweden as a country adopted by the men who received the Nobel Prize, that unique and brilliant distinction in contemporary civilization. No other nation, in fact, has succeeded in proposing, much less…

French Albert Camus’ speech at the Nobel Banquet at the City Hall in Stockholm, December 10, 1957 Sire, Madame, Altesses Royales, Mesdames, Messieurs, En recevant la distinction dont votre libre Académie a bien voulu m’honorer, ma gratitude était d’autant plus profonde que je mesurais à quel point cette récompense dépassait mes mérites personnels. Tout homme…

English Albert Camus’ speech at the Nobel Banquet at the City Hall in Stockholm, December 10, 1957 (Translation) In receiving the distinction with which your free has so generously honoured me, my gratitude has been profound, particularly when I consider the extent to which this recompense has surpassed my personal merits. Every man, and for…

English Halldór Laxness’s speech at the Nobel Banquet at the City Hall in Stockholm, December 10, 1955 (Translation) I was travelling in the south of Sweden a few weeks ago, when I heard the rumour that the choice of the might possibly fall on me. Alone in my hotel room that night, I naturally began…

Swedish Halldór Laxness’s speech at the Nobel Banquet at the City Hall in Stockholm, December 10, 1955 Eders Majestäter, Mina damer och herrar, Den kväll på en resa i Sydsverige för några få veckor sedan, då ryktet redan hade mält, att Svenska Akademiens förestående val möjligen kunde gälla mig, och jag hade blivit ensam i…

William Faulkner’s speech at the Nobel Banquet at the City Hall in Stockholm, December 10, 1950 Ladies and gentlemen, I feel that this award was not made to me as a man, but to my work – a life’s work in the agony and sweat of the human spirit, not for glory and least of…

Ers Majestäter, Ers Kungliga högheter, Excellenser, Kära pristagare, Mina damer och herrar, Jag tackar för äran att ha tilldelats Nobelpriset i kemi tillsammans med professor Modrich och professor Sancar. The topic of my brief comments will be the crucial importance of our early mentors and teachers. I had the privilege of attending…

English Svetlana Alexievich’s speech at the Nobel Banquet, 10 December 2015 (translation into English). I would like to thank the Swedish Academy for this distinguished award, which I dare not claim as mine alone. Rather, I see it as a tribute to the many generations who not so very long ago lived…

Russian/Belarusian Svetlana Alexievich’s speech at the Nobel Banquet, 10 December 2015. Я благодарю Шведскую академию за высокую награду, которую не смею себе присвоить, я понимаю ее, как поклон многим поколениям советских людей, которые еще недавно жили вместе в огромной стране СССР – марксистской лаборатории светлого будущего.Как поклон их страданиям, их боли. Они уходили ив…

Your majesties, Your Royal Highnesses, Your Excellencies, Laureates, Ladies and Gentlemen. When I was a boy living in Edinburgh in Scotland, especially in December, when the hours of daylight were few, and it was cold, and often wet, I used to dream of escaping to a tropical magic kingdom. I searched the…