Writer Doris Lessing, 86, sits in her home in a quiet block of north London April 17, 2006. Lessing was awarded the 2007 Nobel Prize in Literature for 'that epicist of the female experience, who with scepticism, fire and visionary power has subjected a divided civilisation to scrutiny.' (AP Photo/Martin Cleaver) STOCKHOLM, Sweden - English writer Doris Lessing, who ended her formal schooling at age 13 and went on to write novels that explored relationships between women and society and interracial dynamics, won the 2007 Nobel Prize in literature on Thursday.
Lessing, who turns 88 in just over a week, was born to British parents who were living in what at the time was Persia. The family later moved to what is now Zimbabwe, where she spent her childhood and adolescent years.
She made her debut with "The Grass Is Singing" in 1950. Her other works include the semiautobiographical "Children Of Violence" series, set in Africa and England.
"We are absolutely delighted and it's very well deserved," said Lessing's agent, Jonathan Clowes. He added Lessing was out shopping and may not yet know that she had won the prize.
Her breakthrough was "The Golden Notebook," in 1962, the Swedish Academy said.
"The burgeoning feminist movement saw it as a pioneering work and it belongs to the handful of books that inform the 20th-century view of the male-female relationship," the academy said in its citation announcing the prize.
Other important novels of Lessing's include "The Summer Before Dark" in 1973 and "The Fifth Child" in 1988.
Lessing is the second British writer to win the prize in three years. In 2005, Harold Pinter received the award. Last year, the academy gave the prize to Turkey's Orhan Pamuk.
A seasoned traveler of the world, Lessing has known many homes from what is today known as Iran, to Zimbabwe to South Africa and London.
Lessing, who turns 88 in just over a week, was born to British parents who were living in what at the time was Persia. The family later moved to what is now Zimbabwe, where she spent her childhood and adolescent years.
She made her debut with "The Grass Is Singing" in 1950. Her other works include the semiautobiographical "Children Of Violence" series, set in Africa and England.
"We are absolutely delighted and it's very well deserved," said Lessing's agent, Jonathan Clowes. He added Lessing was out shopping and may not yet know that she had won the prize.
Her breakthrough was "The Golden Notebook," in 1962, the Swedish Academy said.
"The burgeoning feminist movement saw it as a pioneering work and it belongs to the handful of books that inform the 20th-century view of the male-female relationship," the academy said in its citation announcing the prize.
Other important novels of Lessing's include "The Summer Before Dark" in 1973 and "The Fifth Child" in 1988.
Lessing is the second British writer to win the prize in three years. In 2005, Harold Pinter received the award. Last year, the academy gave the prize to Turkey's Orhan Pamuk.
A seasoned traveler of the world, Lessing has known many homes from what is today known as Iran, to Zimbabwe to South Africa and London.
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