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The first Nobel Prize for Literature was awarded in 1901. Which of these poets, most famous for "Le vase brisé", won that award?

Sully Prudhomme. In 1865, Prudhomme published his first collection, "Stanzas and Poems", which included "Le vase brisé". Later in his life his writings began reflecting his philosophical interests. The prize money was used to establish a poetry prize to be awarded by the Société des gens de lettres (founded by Honoré de Balzac, Victor Hugo, Alexandre Dumas, and George Sand in 1838).

In 1913, it was the first time a non-European had been award the Nobel Prize for Literature. Which of these prolific authors was born in Calcutta, and authored poems, novels, short stories, songs and essays?

Rabindranath Tagore. Poems that he had written at eight years of age were not published until he was sixteen. Two of the songs he composed were chosen to be national anthems: the Republic of India's "Jana Gana Mana" and Bangladesh's "Amar Shonar Bangla". He also authored plays, short stories and novels.

During the 1930 award ceremony, his "Babbitt" was praised. Which of these was the first US author awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature?

Sinclair Lewis. Lewis' first published works were included in the "Yale Courant" and the "Yale Literay Magazine", where he attended from 1903 until receiving his bachelor's degree in 1908. Lewis was a commercial success after publishing "Main Street" in 1920.

Which of these woman authors, also known by her Chinese name of Sai Zhenzhu, was the first US woman to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature?

Pearl S. Buck. Buck won the Nobel Prize in 1938 "for her rich and truly epic descriptions of peasant life in China and for her biographical masterpieces." Though born in West Virgina, her missionary family returned to China when she was about three months old. Buck spent most of her time there until 1934.

In 1948, the Nobel Prize for Literature was given to a poet. Which of these became famous from the poem "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock"?

T. S. Eliot. Thomas Stearns or T. S. Eliot, was born in the US in 1888. He moved to the United Kingdom when he was 25 and was naturalized as a British subject when he was 39. The poem "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" was published in 1915. In addition, he authored seven plays.

The 1953 Nobel Prize for Literature was awarded to which Englishman, who is better remembered as a politician than an author?

Winston Churchill. Although Churchill is remembered for his leadership of the UK during World War II, he began his working life as a journalist. The majority of his works are historical and biographical, although he also wrote one novel, 'Savrola', published in 1899. Churchill received the Nobel Prize primarily for his six volume history called 'The Second World War'.

1958 saw the award of the Nobel Prize for Literature to which Russian author, the author of 'Doctor Zhivago'?

Boris Pasternak. Doctor Zhivago' was originally published in Milan, in 1957, having been smuggled out of the USSR, as it then was, where it had been banned. Pasternak's award of the Nobel Prize the following year caused great humiliation to his country, and he was forced to decline the prize. The film of the book, starring Omar Sharif and Julie Christie, came out in late 1965 in the USA and won several Academy Awards, including for Art Direction and Adapted Screenplay. All the options are Russian winners of the Nobel Prize for Literature - Bunin won in 1933, Sholokhov in 1965 and Solzhenitsyn in 1970.

French writer Jean-Paul Sartre won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1964. Which of these works was his?

Huis Clos (No Exit). Apart from being an author, Sartre was also known as a philosopher, screenwriter and political activist, especially in Marxism. 'Huis Clos' was published in 1944, and is a play about three dead people being confined in one room together with no way out. It includes Sartre's famous comment 'hell is other people'. The other works are also by French Nobel laureates. 'L'Étranger' was written by 1957 winner Albert Camus, and 'L'Invitation' by Claude Simon who won in 1985. Anatole France won the award in 1921 and among his works is 'L'Île des Pingouins'.

In 2003, the Nobel Prize for Literature was awarded to J.M. Coetzee, who was born in which country?

South Africa. John Maxwell Coetzee was born in Cape Town, South Africa, in 1940 although he moved to Australia in 2002 and became an Australian citizen in 2006. Among his works are 'Dusklands' from 1974 and 'Waiting for the Barbarians' (1980). In 1999 he won the Booker Prize for his novel 'Disgrace'.

Mario Vargas Llosa was the winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2010. In which language did he write?

Spanish. Llosa was born in Peru in 1936, although he spent much of his childhood in Bolivia. His first novel, in English called 'The Time of the Hero', was published in 1963. It reflected his own experiences at a Military Academy. Films have been made of his novels, including 'Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter', although the setting was moved from Lima to New Orleans and the title was changed to 'Tune in Tomorrow' (1990). Llosa also wrote several plays and many newspaper articles.