Anne Carson Awarded 2026 Nobel Prize in Literature by the Swedish Academy

Key facts

• Canadian poet, essayist and translator Anne Carson, aged 76, won the 2026 Nobel Prize in Literature, announced on 8 October 2026.
• The Nobel Prize committee cited her bold and inventive oeuvre that, in playful dialogue with the classical tradition, has created new forms for contemporary literature.
• Carson becomes only the 19th woman to win the Nobel Prize in Literature, which has been awarded 119 times to 123 winners by the Nobel committee of the Swedish Academy.
• Her best-known works include Eros the Bittersweet (1986), Autobiography of Red: A Novel in Verse (1998), The Beauty of the Husband: A Fictional Essay in 29 Tangos (2001), Norma Jeane Baker of Troy (2019) and Wrong Norma (2024).
• The 2026 literature prize carries 12 million Swedish kronor (about €1.07 million), an 18-carat gold medal and a diploma; the 2025 prize was won by Hungarian author László Krasznahorkai.
• Nobel Prize award ceremonies are held on 10 December, the anniversary of Alfred Nobel's death in 1896.