British novelist Doris Lessing poses as she arrives to receive the Prince of Asturias Award for literature in Oviedo, capital of the Principality of Asturias, in this Oct. 25, 2001 file picture. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo)

British novelist Doris Lessing poses in this file photo from Oct. 25, 2001. Lessing won the 2007 Nobel Prize for literature, the Swedish Academy said on Thursday. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo)

    STOCKHOLM, Oct. 11，2007 -- British female writer Doris Lessing won the 2007 Nobel Prize in literature, the Swedish Academy announced Thursday.

    The Academy cited Lessing as "that epicist of the female experience who with skepticism, fire and visionary power has subjected a divided civilization to scrutiny."

    This was the fourth of the prestigious Nobel Prizes handed out this year, with awards in chemistry, physics and medicine made in the past three days.

    The Nobel Prizes have been awarded annually since 1901 to those who "conferred the greatest benefit on mankind during the preceding year."

    The annual Nobel Prizes are usually announced in October and are handed out on Dec. 10, the anniversary of the 1896 death of Alfred Nobel, a Swedish industrialist and the inventor of dynamite.

    Each prize consists of a medal, a personal diploma and a cash award of 10 million Swedish kronor (1.53 million U.S. dollars).