The Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded to French-writer Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clézio. The committee who awarded the prize called Le Clézio an "author of new departures, poetic adventure and sensual ecstasy, explorer of a humanity beyond and below the reigning civilization".

Le Clezio was born 1940 in Nice, France. At the age of eight, he moved to Nigeria with his family. During the month-long voyage to Nigeria, he began his literary career with two book -- "Un Long Voyage" and "Oradi Noir".

The emphasis in Le Clezio's work has increasingly moved in the direction of an exploration of the world of childhood and of his own family history.

This was the fourth of the prestigious Nobel Prizes handed out this year, with awards in chemistry, physics and medicine made in the past three days.