China’s Noble laureate off to Stockholm with tuxedo

Mo Yan, this year's recipient of the Nobel Prize for Literature, will leave for Sweden with his wife and daughter on Wednesday to accept the award, said an official from the writer's hometown.

Shao Chunsheng, an official from the city's administration of radio, film and television in the city of Gaomi in Shandong Province, said people can expect an "excellent speech" from Mo at the ceremony.

"Mo Yan is an honest and low-key man, but he is ardent in his artistic pursuits," said Shao

The Swedish Academy announced in Stockholm on October 11 that Mo would receive the 2012 Nobel Prize in Literature.

During his youth, Mo witnessed rural upheaval during the great famine in the early 1960s, as well as the Cultural Revolution, which lasted from 1966 to 1976. Both periods served to inform and inspire his works.

Mo Yan, a pseudonym for Guan Moye, was born in 1955 and grew up in Gaomi.

Mo is now the second highest earning writer in China pulling in 21.5 million yuan ($3.45 million) in royalties this year.

After he was named Nobel laureate, his novel Frog topped the best sellers list for two weeks and several other of his works were among the top ten.

Shao said the writer will take five outfits to the event in Stockholm including a traditional Mao suit.

"He may wear a tailor-made tuxedo that was picked out by his daughter at the award ceremony," said Shao, who will also accompany Mo to Sweden.