In addition to the presentation speeches and the Nobel lectures, these volumes also provide brief biographies and the Nobel laureates' own accounts of their many years of preparation and effort that led to their achievements.

Equally important to our understanding of history and humanity are the great works of literature. The Nobel Prize for literature recognizes modern classics and the efforts of authors to bridge gaps between different cultures, time-periods and styles.

Below is a list of the prizewinners during the period 1996 – 2000.

(1996) WISLAWA SZYMBORSKA — for poetry that with ironic precision allows the historical and biological context to come to light in fragments of human reality; (1997) DARIO FO — who emulates the jesters of the Middle Ages in scourging authority and upholding the dignity of the down-trodden; (1998) JOSÉ SARAMAGO — who with parables sustained by imagination, compassion and irony continually enables us once again to apprehend an elusory reality; (1999) GÜNTER GRASS — whose frolicsome black fables portray the forgotten face of history; (2000) GAO XINGJIAN — for an oeuvre of universal validity, bitter insights and linguistic ingenuity, which has opened new paths for the Chinese novel and drama.