Laszlo Krasznahorkai was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature on Thursday “for his compelling and visionary oeuvre that, in the midst of apocalyptic terror, reaffirms the power of art.”

The Nobel Prize is literature’s major honor, and typically the capstone to a writer’s career. Past recipients have included the authors Saul Bellow and Toni Morrison, the playwright Harold Pinter and, in 2016, Bob Dylan.

Alongside prestige, the new laureate receives almost $1.2 million.

The Swedish Academy, which organizes the prize, has tried in recent years to expand the diversity of authors awarded the prize, having faced criticism that the vast majority of laureates were men from Europe or North America.

Last year’s recipient was Han Kang, the South Korean author best known for “The Vegetarian,” a surreal novel about a woman who stops eating and tries to live off sunlight.

Other recent laureates have included Abdulrazak Gurnah, a Tanzanian author whose novels dissect the immigrant experience and legacies of colonialism, and Annie Ernaux, a French writer whose books details moments from her life, whether everyday or traumatic.

Before Thursday’s announcement, a British bookmaker had listed the favorites for this year’s prize as Can Xue, an avant-garde Chinese writer, and Krasznahorkai.

Swedish journalists who follow the prize closely had predicted other winners. Björn Wiman, the culture editor for Dagens Nyheter newspaper, said in an email this week that he believed Christian Kracht, a Swiss novelist, had a strong chance.

In September, “more or less the entire Swedish Academy” attended a seminar by Kracht at the Gothenburg Book Fair, Wiman said. Academy members had attended a similar talk by Herta Müller, a Romanian-born German novelist, before giving her the 2009 Nobel, Wiman added.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.