The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, has named , British - Japenes writer, Kazuo Ishiguro as the winner of the 2017 Nobel Prize for Literature.

"who, in novels of great emotional force, has uncovered the abyss beneath our illusory sense of connection with the world".

Last year's award went to the American Singer and songwriter, Bob Dylan, "for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition."

The Prize was awarded to 114 Nobel Laureates since 1901 including 14 women. It was not awarded on seven occasions: in 1914, 1918, 1935, 1940, 1941, 1942, and 1943.

The Nobel Prize in Literature has been shared between two individuals on four occasions only. Sharing the Nobel Prize is a more common phenomenon within the other Nobel Prize categories.

The Academy explains that on its website by that "It probably belongs to the nature of literature. The science prizes are often awarded jointly, as the achievement is jointly, or for doing things that are very close to each other."

The average age of all Literature Laureates between 1901 and 2016 is 65 years.

To date, the youngest Literature Laureate is Rudyard Kipling, best known for The Jungle Book, who was 41 years old when he was awarded the Literature Prize in 1907. The oldest Nobel Laureate in Literature to date is Doris Lessing, who was 88 years old when she was awarded the Prize in 2007.