The author was born in 1948 in the Ukrainian town of Ivano-Frankivsk, then known as Stanislav, to a Belarusian father and Ukrainian mother.

Svetlana Alexievich -- File photo

The family moved to Belarus after her father completed his military service, and Alexievich studied journalism at the University of Minsk between 1967 and 1972.

After graduation, she worked as a journalist for several years before publishing her first book, War's Unwomanly Face, in 1985.

Based on interviews with hundreds of women who participated in the World War Two, it set a template for her future works, constructing narratives from witnesses to some the world's most devastating events.

On her personal website, Alexievich explains her pursuit of journalism: "I chose a genre where human voices speak for themselves."

Alexievich has previously won the Swedish PEN prize for her "courage and dignity as a writer".

Ms Danius said the author had spent nearly 40 years studying the people of the former Soviet Union, but that her work was not only about history but "something eternal, a glimpse of eternity".

"By means of her extraordinary method - a carefully composed collage of human voices - Alexievich deepens our comprehension of an entire era," the Swedish Academy added.

Alexievich was the bookmakers' favourite to win 2015 Nobel award, according to Ladbrokes.

She beat other hot favourites Japanese novelist Haruki Murakami and Kenyan novelist Ngugi Wa Thiong'o.

She is the 14th woman to win the Nobel Prize for Literature in its history.

A total of 112 individuals have won it between 1901 and 2015. The prize was suspended several times during the first and second world wars.

Source: BBC