Mo Yan is often referred to as the Chinese answer to Franz Kafka or Joseph Heller, according to Wikipedia.
He beat perennial Nobel Prize contenders like Japanese author Haruki Murakami and Candian short story writer Alice Munro to win the world's greatest literary honour.
Mo Yan is a former soldier of China's People's Liberation Army, where he served for three years, before becoming a professor of literature in the army's Cultural Academy.
He has often been critcised for remaining silent on the prosecution of dissenting authors and intellectuals by the Chinese administration.
Mo Yan has often mentioned that the magical realism of Gabriel Garcia Marquez, another Nobel Prize winner, has had considerable influence in his writing.