Winner of the 2014 International Ibsen Award: Peter Handke

The International Ibsen Award, the world's leading theatre award, is awarded to individuals or institutions that have made a significant contribution to the development of theatre as an art form. The winner receives NOK 2.5 million.

     (Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20140320/675274 )

The award was established by the Norwegian Government in 2007 and has previously been awarded to Peter Brook, Ariane Mnouchkine, Jon Fosse and Heiner Goebbels. The jury's citation states that the 2014 International Ibsen Award is being awarded to Peter Handke for "a body of work that is unparalleled in its formal beauty and brilliant reflection", and continues: "If Ibsen was the model playwright of the bourgeois epoch, which has yet to end, Peter Handke is undoubtedly theatre's most eminent epic poet." To read the jury's entire citation, please visit http://www.internationalibsenaward.com

Video: https://vimeo.com/89543851

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About  Peter  Handke

Peter Handke was born in Kärnten, studied law at the University of Graz from 1961 to 1965, but broke off his studies when his first novel manuscript was accepted in 1965 (Die  Hornissen, 1966). In the same year, the legendary play Publikumsbeschimpfung (Offending  the  Audience) was put on in Frankfurt, directed by Claus Peymann. He has since published more than thirty novels and works of prose, and has written a number of plays and screenplays, including the screenplay for Wim Wenders' well-known, award winning Der  Himmel  über  Berlin  (Wings  of  Desire  or  The  Sky  Above  Berlin,  1987). He has won a number of international awards for his literary work and is regarded today as one of the great names of European literature. Handke lives in Chaville outside Paris.

About  The  International  Ibsen  Award

For more about the award, this year's winner and photos visit: http://www.internationalibsenaward.com

For more information please contact Anne Berentsen, +47-99-52-44-38 / [email protected]