Jon Fosse

Jon Fosse has been nominated for the International Booker Prize twice, in 2020 and 2022. He was born in 1959 on the west coast of Norway and is the recipient of countless prestigious prizes, both in his native country and abroad

Since his 1983 fiction debut – Red, Black – Fosse has written prose, poetry, essays, short stories, children’s books, and over forty plays, with more than a thousand productions performed and translations into fifty languages. The Other Name is the first volume in Septology, a trilogy. In 2023, Fosse won the Nobel Prize in Literature.

Read more on Jon Fosse

Aerial vertical view of artic sea, Senja, Norway.

Reading guide: The Other Name: Septology I-II by Jon Fosse, translated by Damion Searls

In the first volume of a trilogy of novels, Jon Fosse explores profound questions: what makes us who we are? And why do we lead one life instead of another?

Scenic aerial view of fishing boat in Lofoten Islands in winter.

An extract from The Other Name: Septology I - II by Jon Fosse, translated by Damion Searls

In the first volume of his Septology sequence, Jon Fosse presents us with a meditative portrait of an ageing painter – and his doppelganger

Jon Fosse interview: ‘I never had an intention to be an author’

The Nobel Prize-winning and International Booker Prize-shortlisted author reflects on his writing process, how music influences his prose, and reveals the philosophical works that shaped his thinking

What's on my bookshelf: Jon Fosse

From Norwegian poetry to a classic that changed the way we looked at the world, the 2023 Nobel Prize-winner Jon Fosse reveals the books that shaped his life

Video highlights

The 2022 International Booker Prize - Full Ceremony

Watch the full ceremony for the 2022 International Booker Prize.

Jon Fosse reads from ‘A New Name: Septology VI-VII’

Images from the ceremony

Shortlisted authors 2022 International Booker Prize

Shortlisted authors Bora Chung, Mieko Kawakami, Jon Fosse, Geetanjali Shree and Claudia Piñeiro at the 2022 International Booker Prize Ceremony

Shortlisted translators, 2022 International Booker Prize

Shortlisted translators David Boyd, Sam Bett, Frances Riddle, Daisy Rockwell, Anton Hur and Damion Searls at the 2022 International Booker Prize ceremony, London

Booker judges Viv Groskop, Petina Gappah, Frank Wynne, Jeremy Tiang and Merve Emre at the 2022 International Booker Prize ceremony

The 2022 International Booker Prize Ceremony.

All nominated books

A New Name: Septology VI-VII

Jon Fosse delivers both a transcendent exploration of the human condition and a radically ‘other’ reading experience – incantatory, hypnotic, and utterly unique

The Other Name: Septology I - II

In the first volume of a trilogy of novels, Jon Fosse presents us with an indelible and poignant exploration of the human condition

Jon Fosse

Read more on Jon Fosse

Reading guide: The Other Name: Septology I-II by Jon Fosse, translated by Damion Searls

An extract from The Other Name: Septology I - II by Jon Fosse, translated by Damion Searls