Belarus Writer Gets Nobel Literature Prize

Svetlana Alexievich of Belarus has won the Nobel Prize in Literature.

The Nobel Prize committee in Stockholm, Sweden, called her writings "a monument to suffering and courage in our time."

Ms. Alexievich has written books on the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear accident in Ukraine, the war in Afghanistan and Soviet history.

On Thursday, the Nobel Prize in Chemistry went to three scientists for their work on human DNA repair.

Belarussian writer Svetlana Alexievich

On Tuesday, the Nobel Physics prize was awarded to two scientists for their discoveries related to subatomic particles.

The Nobel committee announced the prize winners for medicine to scientists from Ireland, Japan and China on Monday. Their work centered on therapy for parasitic infections and a new drug for the treatment of malaria.

The Nobel Peace Prize will be announced Friday.

I'm Jonathan Evans.

VOA's Marissa Melton reported this story. Jonathan Evans adapted it for Learning English. Kathleen Struck was the editor.

courage – n. the ability to do something that you know is difficult or dangerous

parasitic – adj. caused by a parasite, an animal or plant that lives in or on another animal or plant and gets food or protection from it