The Swedish Academy announced Svetlana Alexievich, a Belarussian journalist and narrative nonfiction writer, as the winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature last week “for her polyphonic writings, a monument to suffering and courage in our time.”

Known for her deeply researched coverage of the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan from 1979 to 1989 (War’s Unwomanly Face, 1985), and the Chernobyl nuclear disaster of 1986 (Voices from Chernobyl: The Oral History of a Nuclear Disaster, 1997, the English translation of which received the 2005 National Book Critics Circle Award), Alexievich is the first to accept the prestigious award for nonfiction in over fifty years, as well as the fourteenth woman to receive the prize.

Learn more about Alexievich and her personal history in this New Yorker piece.

That a journalist took the prestigious award represents a win for “nonfictioneers” everywhere; indeed, Philip Gourevitch, the author of one of the most acclaimed nonfiction books, We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our Families, had called on the Nobel judges to recognize nonfiction as literature just last year.

Still, others wonder whether the Swedish Academy’s move to recognize Alexievich was politically motivated, given her books’ critique of the standard narrative of Soviet history, and in light of Russia’s current military involvement in Ukraine and Syria.

Alexievich also openly critiqued the post-Soviet government at a news conference following the announcement of her award, where she referred to Russia’s actions in Ukraine as “occupation,” according to the New York Times.

The spokesperson for Russian President Vladimir Putin, Dmitri Peskov, dismissed her remarks.

“Apparently, Svetlana just doesn’t have enough information to offer a clear evaluation of what is happening in Ukraine.”

Related reading: Los Angeles Times writer Carolyn Kellog explains why Americans haven’t read Alexievich’s work before, and why it’s been twenty-two years since an American has received the Nobel Prize for Literature, and Flavorwire contributor Jonathan Sturgeon explains why Alexievich’s win is ‘good for literature.’

Photo credit: Tatyana Zenkovich / EPA