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lessing wins nobel prize

Doris Lessing. Pic. Martin Cleaver. 17/04/2006. © AP
Doris Lessing. Pic. Martin Cleaver. 17/04/2006. © AP

STOCKHOLM - British novelist Doris Lessing yesterday won the 2007 Nobel Prize for literature for a body of work that looked unflinchingly at society's ills and inspired a generation of feminist writers.

The Swedish Academy, which awards the coveted R10,8million prize, described 87-year-old Lessing as an "epicist of the female experience, who with scepticism, fire and visionary power has subjected a divided civilisation to scrutiny".

The oldest person to win a Nobel for literature, Lessing was also only the 34th female laureate since the prizes were inaugurated in 1901 and the 11th woman to take the literature award.

"Doris doesn't know yet, because she's gone to the shops," a spokesman for Lessing's agent Jonathan Clowes said. - Reuters

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