According to the prize?s organizers, Heller "has for half a century described the culture of Europe with creative talent, political intelligence, moral energy and with an intellectual's integrity."
The Sonning Prize, named after Danish writer Carl Johan Sonning, was founded in 1950 and it is awarded every two years to recognize work intellectuals have done for the advancement of European Culture. Past prize winners include Czech writer and former President Václav Havel, Swedish film and theatre director Ingmar Bergman, Polish film director Krzysztof Kieslowski and German writer Günter Grass.
Heller told Hungarian Press Agency MTI that she was "very honoured" to join the company of earlier Sonning laureates including philosophers Hannah Arendt and Bertrand Russell.
Heller, born in 1929, has written around 40 books and her works have been published in 14 languages. She told MTI that she would spend the award money to pay off the mortgage on her apartment in New York City, where she has lectured each year, between September and December, for the past 20 years. Heller was dismissed from a university in Budapest in 1957, after which she was not allowed to teach at any university until after the change of system.
The awards ceremony will be held in Copenhagen on April 19. Heller said she would travel there to receive the prize.
