Patrick White became the first Australian to win the Nobel Prize for literature, The Canberra Times reported on this day 46 years ago.
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The Swedish Academy said White, author of Voss and The Tree of Man, had introduced a whole new continent into literature when they awarded the 510,000 kronor prize, which, accounting for inflation, is worth over $750,000 now.
The award is so far the only Nobel literature prize for an Australian and, at the time, was the first awarded to an English language writer in a decade.
By the following day, White, 61, had announced he would give away the prize money. "I shall not keep any of it," he said, "because there is nothing I really want."
He said the award was both very flattering and gratifying. "Everyone kept mentioning my name as being in contention so I suppose I expected to win it eventually," he said.
White said he believed a unique Australian style of writing was still evolving and a serious writer had to lead a disciplined life. "You have to shut yourself up and ration your social life. Of course, a lot of people then say you are a recluse but you are only doing what is necessary," he said.
