The Canadian poet and writer Anne Carson has won the 2026 Nobel Prize in Literature “for her bold and creative work, which, in a playful dialogue with classical tradition, has created new forms for contemporary literature,” the awarding body announced on Thursday.
The prize is awarded by the Swedish Academy and is worth 12 million Swedish kronor (US$1.2 million).
“She was taken completely by surprise. We did not have much time to talk, and all she could tell me was that, at the moment, she is in Iceland, where she is listening to the wind,” said Ingrid Carlberg, the permanent secretary of the Swedish Academy.
The work of the Canadian poet and essayist Carson frequently combines verse, prose, dialogue and translation in a blend that defies genres.
“Almost all of her literary output has concentrated on the intersection between the philologist’s obsession with words and the poet’s desire for new meanings,” the Academy stated.
She is widely known for her translations of classical Greek literature, which strongly influence her work, spanning from opera librettos to literary criticism and verse novels, such as “Autobiography of Red” (1998).
Her style is exemplified in “Norma Jeane Baker of Troy,” published in 2019, a performative work that blends the stories of Helen of Troy, Euripides’ play “Helen,” and Marilyn Monroe.
Carson joins the ranks of illustrious names such as Alexander Solzhenitsyn, Alice Munro and Ernest Hemingway as a Nobel laureate, a choice that often divides opinion among literature lovers.
The Academy has been harshly criticized for ignoring some of the giants of literature of the last 120 years, such as Leo Tolstoy, Virginia Woolf and Jorge Luis Borges; criticized for neglecting North American authors — although it awarded the prize to singer-songwriter Bob Dylan in 2016 — and accused of making very obscure choices.
Its supporters argue that the Academy has made popular choices, such as Colombian Gabriel García Márquez in 1982 and Doris Lessing in 2007, arguing that part of its mission is to highlight lesser-known literary traditions and encourage readers to broaden their horizons.
Established by the will of the Swedish dynamite inventor and entrepreneur Alfred Nobel, the prizes for achievements in literature, science and peace have been awarded since 1901.
Last year’s prize was won by Hungarian writer László Krasznahorkai, nicknamed the “master of the apocalypse” by American critic Susan Sontag.
