Jon Fosse

Banquet speech

Jon Fosse - speech of thanks
Jon Fosse delivering his speech of thanks at the Nobel Prize banquet in the Stockholm City Hall, 10 December 2023. © Nobel Prize Outreach. Photo: Clément Morin.
Jon Fosse’s speech at the Nobel Prize banquet, 10 December 2023.

Your Majesties
Your Royal Highnesses
Excellences
Esteemed Laureates
Ladies and gentlemen

Many years ago, I saw myself – not in a dream, or in a daydream, more like in a vision – walking along the side of a road leading to the centre of a town.

When I saw myself there, some day in the future, I saw myself walking as someone who had received the Nobel Prize in Literature.

Because of this vision – to be honest with you, I felt rather sure that I one day would be standing here.

Thank you to the Nobel Foundation for organizing everything so well.

Thank you to the Swedish Academy for awarding me the Nobel Prize in Literature.

And thanks be to God.

Copyright © The Nobel Foundation 2023

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MLA style: Jon Fosse – Banquet speech. NobelPrize.org. Nobel Prize Outreach AB 2023. Sat. 23 Dec 2023. <https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/literature/2023/fosse/speech/>

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