Doris Lessing on Winning the Nobel in Literature

as reported by Publishers Weekly

“I can’t say I’m overwhelmed with surprise. . . . I’m 88 years old and they can’t give the Nobel to someone who’s dead, so I think they were probably thinking they’d probably better give it to me now before I’ve popped off…This has been going on for 30 years. I’ve won all the prizes in Europe, every bloody one, so I’m delighted to win them all. It’s a royal flush.”