Mo Yan receives Nobel Prize

Mo Yan, this year's Nobel Literature laureate, received the prize during an official Nobel Prize ceremony on Monday.

The 57-year-old Chinese writer was named winner of the award in October, becoming the first Chinese national to get the coveted crown.

PKG

The 2012 Nobel laureates have received their prizes at a gala ceremony at Stockholm Concert Hall. The formal events are traditionally held on the anniversary of the death of prize founder Alfred Nobel in 1896.

Laureates received their prizes from Swedish King Carl XVI Gustaf.

Chinese writer Mo Yan was one of the highlights of the night, as he officially became the first Chinese to win the Nobel prize in literature.

After the ceremony, the laureates were also honored at a formal dinner banquet attended by the royal family and some 1,300 specially-invited guests.

There, Mo showed his skill at humor with a touch of wit.

SOUNDBITE (CHINESE) MO YAN, Nobel literature laureate:

"Compared to science, literature is really useless. But the biggest use of literature, I think, is exactly being useless. Thank you."

Arriving in Sweden last week, Mo has generated much media attention.

The writer describes himself as a storyteller.

He says it's largely his way of telling stories that earned him the prize.

SOUNDBITE (CHINESE) MO YAN, 2012 Nobel Literature laureate:

"If you ask what I want most at the moment, I would say, return to my desk to write novels. Some say a writer can never write a good work after winning the Nobel Literature Prize, but many good writers broke that 'devil spell', and I hope I could become one of these good writers."

Mo Yan attended a reception at the Chinese Embassy in Stockholm on Friday, a day after arriving in the city.

He says diversity makes human cultural life interesting.

SOUNDBITE (CHINESE) MO YAN, 2012 Nobel Literature laureate:

"It's a very important responsibility for us cultural workers to protect and create diversity."