Doris Lessing

Doris Lessing finally received her Nobel Prize for literature last night. She told her audience that "thank you does not seem enough when you've won the best of them all. It is astonishing and amazing. I would like to say that there isn't anywhere to go from here…I could get a pat on the head from the Pope." Love her.

The Nobel laureate speaks out here against the aggressive marketing schemes of publishers, saying it has created a poison environment for new authors. They have turned the writer into a public celebrity and are thus endangering the silent space that is vital to writing.

On Thursday, the novelist Doris Lessing won the 2007 Nobel Prize in Literature. One of the most pointed criticisms of Ms. Lessing came from Harold Bloom, the Yale professor and literary critic, who told The Associated Press, “Although Ms. Lessing at the beginning of her writing career had a few admirable qualities, I find her work for the past 15 years quite unreadable.”

Doris Lessing is unable to travel to Stockholm to receive her Nobel prize for literature on December 10 due to back problems.

Noble Prize winner Doris Lessing will not be attending the ceremony to accept the honor. She has back problems, and doctors have advised her not to travel. It’s uncertain whether her lecture will be prerecorded for playback at the ceremony. She’s probably not all that keen on the fuss, anyway.

Very funny . She waves off intrusive reporters and basically says she’s pleased to have finally completed the set...

Here’s a video of Nobel Prize winner Doris Lessing’s reaction when she hears the news of her award. The sounds is a bit choppy, but it the author’s body language speaks volumes.