Austrian novelist, playwright and translator Peter Handke was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. Handke's position regarding the war in Yugoslavia has caused a lot of controversy over the years, again in 2014, when he was awarded the International Ibsen Award, which was met with protest from PEN Norway among others. Jon Fosse, former recipient of the prize, took to his defence, saying that Handke was a worthy recipient. Fosse had already said in an interview in 2008 that Handke deserved the Nobel Prize.