Mixing Kafka with Jane Austen - Ishiguro wins literature Nobel

Author Kazuo Ishiguro speaks to the media outside his home, following the announcement that he has won the Nobel Prize for Literature, in London, Britain October 5, 2017. REUTERS/Toby Melville

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Kazuo Ishiguro, the British author of "The Remains of the Day", won the Nobel Prize for Literature on Thursday for a run of "exquisite" novels that the award body said mixed Franz Kafka with Jane Austen.

The 62-year-old writer called the news "flabbergastingly flattering" and said he initially thought it was a hoax. He told reporters his wife had rushed home from the hairdressers after seeing reports on her phone.