Chinese author Mo Yan has been awarded the 2012 Nobel Prize for literature, the Swedish Academy said today in Stockholm.

The Swedish Academy praised his work which “with hallucinatory realism merges folk tales, history and the contemporary”.

The 57-year-old is the 109th recipient of the prestigious prize, which was given last year to Swedish poet Tomas Transtroemer.

Presented by the Nobel Foundation, the award – only given to living writers – is worth 8 million krona (£741,000).