Sweden's Tomas Transtromer, Nobel prize-winning poet, dies at 83

The 2011 literature Nobel laureate Tomas Transtromer of Sweden vawes as goes to take prize during the award ceremony at the Concert Hall in Stockholm, December 10, 2011. REUTERS/Ints Kalnins

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Swedish poet Tomas Transtromer, a winner of the Nobel prize for literature, has died of a stroke at the age of 83, members of the Swedish Academy that confers the award said on Friday.

Transtromer was known for a relatively spare canon of surreal and lyrical poetry. His 2011 Nobel victory pleased many in the prize's homeland, which had not celebrated a winner since 1974.