Jon Fosse says he would have stopped writing 40 years ago if he had listened to critics

The Norwegian author Jon Fosse, winner of this year’s Nobel prize in literature, reflected on the writing process and his early life. Photograph: Fredrik Persson/EPA

The Norwegian author Jon Fosse, winner of this year’s Nobel prize in literature, has said that his first books were “quite poorly reviewed” and that if he had listened to critics, he would have stopped writing 40 years ago.

Fosse, whose works include the Septology series of novels, Aliss at the Fire, Melancholy and A Shining, was awarded the Nobel prize in October “for his innovative plays and prose, which give voice to the unsayable”.