The Nobel Prize in Literature for 2011 has been awarded to the Swedish poet Tomas Tranströmer “because, through his condensed, translucent images, he gives us fresh access to reality”.

Tomas Tranströmer is Scandinavia's best-known and most influential contemporary poet. His first collection of poetry, 17 Dikter (17 Poems), was published in 1954, while he was still at college. He has since reflected on his travels in the Balkans, Spain and Africa, and examined the troubled history of the Baltic region through the conflict between sea and land.
His later work is more personal, open end relaxed, reflecting his broad interests: travel, music, painting, archaeology and natural sciences.