Svetlana Alexievich, a Belarussian journalist and prose writer, won the Nobel Prize in Literature on Thursday "for her polyphonic writings, a monument to suffering and courage in our time," the Swedish Academy announced.<br />Ms. Alexievich, 67, is the 14th woman to win the literature prize.<br />Sara Danius, permanent secretary of the Swedish Academy, said she had created "a history of emotions - a history of the soul, if you wish," in works such as "War's Unwomanly Face," a 1988 book based on interviews with hundreds of women who took part in the Second World War.<br />The book work is the first in a grand cycle, "Voices of Utopia," that depicted life in the Soviet Union "from the perspective of the individual," the academy said.<br />"By means of her extraordinary method - a carefully composed collage of human voices - Alexievich deepens our comprehension of an entire era," the academy said.
