Pinter to be awarded Nobel Prize for literature today

British playwright Harold Pinter will today be awarded the Nobel Prize for literature.

However, the 75-year-old is too ill to attend the event in Sweden as he is recovering from cancer of the oesophagus.

His publisher Stephen Page will accept the award on his behalf.

Pinter's plays include The Room, The Birthday Party, The Caretaker and Betrayal, which was staged recently at the Gate theatre in Dublin.