Svetlana Alexievich, a Belarussian journalist and prose writer, won the Nobel Prize in Literature on Thursday "for her polyphonic writings, a monument to suffering and courage in our time," the Swedish Academy announced.
Ms. Alexievich, 67, is the 14th woman to win the literature prize.
Sara Danius, permanent secretary of the Swedish Academy, said she had created "a history of emotions - a history of the soul, if you wish," in works such as "War's Unwomanly Face," a 1988 book based on interviews with hundreds of women who took part in the Second World War.
The book work is the first in a grand cycle, "Voices of Utopia," that depicted life in the Soviet Union "from the perspective of the individual," the academy said.
"By means of her extraordinary method - a carefully composed collage of human voices - Alexievich deepens our comprehension of an entire era," the academy said.