Doris Lessing: Nobel Prize Winner for Literature Laments for Africa

Doris Lessing, winner of the Nobel Prize for literature 2007, has warned that the Internet has ‘seduced a whole generation into its inanities'. In her acceptance speech she recalls her childhood in Africa and laments that children in Zimbabwe are starving for knowledge, while those in more privileged countries shun reading for the 'inanities' of the internet.

Watch her reaction to the Nobel Prize Win below.



Lessing, 88 the oldest person to have won the Nobel literature prize, praised the ‘respect and hunger for books’ in Zimbabwe. The author grew up on a farm in former Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) and her work, including her classic novel The Grass in Singing, has often drawn on her years in Africa, frequently exploring the divide between blacks and whites. View Doris Lessing's Biography here.

The Swedish Academy (Svenska Akademien) described Lessing as an ‘epicist of the female experience, who with skepticism, fire and visionary power has subjected a divided civilization to scrutiny.’

The Nobel Prize Award ceremonies take place in Stockholm and Oslo on December 10. Since Lessing cannot travel to Stockholm for the Nobel Prize award ceremony because of her health, Lessing’s £750,000 award was presented to her in London.

The Nobel Prize in Literature dates back to 1901 and has been awarded to 104 great writers such as Winston Churchill (U.K, 1953); Mikhail Sholokhov (USSR, 1965); Heinrich Böll (Germany, 1972); Wole Soyinka (Nigeria, 1986); Toni Morrison (U.S.A, 1993); Gao Xingjian (China, 2000) amongst others.

View all Nobel Laureates in Literature from 1901 to 2007.

Photo Credits: Chris Saunders