Gao Xingjian is a Chinese émigré and later French naturalized novelist, playwright, critic, painter, photographer, film director, and translator who was awarded the 2000 Nobel Prize in Literature "for an oeuvre of universal validity, bitter insights and linguistic ingenuity." He is also a noted translator, screenwriter, stage director, and a celebrated painter. The Nobel Prize in Literature 2000, announced October 12, 2000. Gao Xingjian, “for an œuvre of universal validity, bitter insights and linguistic ingenuity, which has opened new paths for the Chinese novel and drama”. Gao Xingjian: born 1940, Ganzhou, China. Wiki link Data: the Nobel Foundation (CC0).