Writer John Banville has said that "for about 40 minutes I was a Nobel Prize winner" as he discussed the hoax call he received from the Stockholm Academy telling him he had won the coveted award.
Speaking on RTÉ's Marian Finucane programme, Mr Banville said he believes he was not the target of the cruel hoax but instead was "collateral damage" for someone with a grudge against the academy.
He explained that on the day in question he kept his phone with him at a physiotherapy appointment in case he was called to comment on an Irish winner.
He said he received a call from Stockholm from a man claiming to be Mats Malm, permanent secretary of the Swedish Academy.
Mr Banville described the caller as "very convincing" and said "who was I to disbelieve it?"
We need your consent to load this rte-player contentWe use rte-player to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.Manage Preferences
He said he was told "you have won the Nobel Prize for Literature, he was very convincing and read me the citation" down the phone.
Mr Banville said he learned a lot about himself in the 40 minutes afterwards, joking as a writer "all experience is material".
He said he had called everyone he knew to tell them the good news, before his daughter rang him when she heard the live announcement and he then realised it was a hoax.
Mr Banville then received a voicemail from someone claiming to be the same man, saying there was a disagreement in the committee and it had chosen two other writers.
He said: "I assume it was someone inside the Swedish Academy who is disaffected and wanted to cause a scandal for the Swedish Academy."
He surmised that the person might have presumed he would have objected publicly to the winners as announced.
Mr Banville said he would now "go and polish his [other] awards to cheer himself up".
