The population of classical novae in the Magellanic Clouds was poorly known because of a lack of systematic studies .
There were some suggestions that nova rates per unit mass in the Magellanic Clouds were higher than in any other galaxy .
Here , we present an analysis of data collected over 16 years by the OGLE survey with the aim of characterizing the nova population in the Clouds .
We found 20 eruptions of novae , half of which are new discoveries .
We robustly measure nova rates of 2.4 \pm 0.8 yr ^ { -1 } ( LMC ) and 0.9 \pm 0.4 yr ^ { -1 } ( SMC ) and confirm that the K -band luminosity-specific nova rates in both Clouds are 2 - 3 times higher than in other galaxies .
This can be explained by the star formation history in the Magellanic Clouds , specifically the re-ignition of the star formation rate a few Gyr ago .
We also present the discovery of the intriguing system OGLE-MBR133.25.1160 which mimics recurrent nova eruptions .