Canadian Anne Carson wins 2026 Nobel Prize in Literature

Canadian poet and writer Anne Carson has won the 2026 Nobel Prize in Literature, the award-giving body has announced.

Carson was selected “for her bold and inventive oeuvre that, in playful dialogue with the classical tradition, has created new forms for contemporary literature,” the Swedish Academy said in a statement on Thursday.

The 76-year-old, whose work is praised for blurring the lines of poetry and fiction, and for giving ancient works new translation, is also a professor of classics.

She has written more than 20 books, some of which have been adapted into plays, and has received numerous literary awards.

“Almost all her literary production has centred upon the intersection between the philologist’s obsession with words and the poet’s desire for new meaning,” the academy said.

“She has herself identified the etymology of words as the starting point for all her work. Her translations from Classical Greek may be regarded as independent works in their own right.”

Ingrid Carlberg, permanent secretary of the academy, which ⁠awards the prize worth 12 million Swedish crowns ($1.2m), said Carson “was very taken by surprise”.

“We didn’t have so much time to speak, and all she had time to tell me was that she is for the moment in Iceland, where she’s listening to the wind.”

Shortly after the announcement, Carson reacted to her win to Icelandic broadcaster RUV. “Crazy. I think they’re all crazy … Well, you know, it’s crazy,” she said.

Carson, who was born in Toronto, also spends time in Iceland, where she also has citizenship.

One of her most notable works includes the Beauty of the Husband, a poignant and moving book-length narrative poem depicting a doomed marriage.

The Trojan Women, published in 2021, is a graphic retelling of Euripides’s ancient story, infused with modern vernacular.

In August 2024, she revealed in the London Review of Books that she was living with Parkinson’s disease.

The Nobel Prize, awarded by the Swedish Academy, is widely considered the most prestigious international award in literature.

Last year’s prize was won by Hungarian writer Laszlo Krasznahorkai.

Established in the will of Swedish dynamite inventor and businessman Alfred ‌Nobel, ‌the prizes for achievements in literature, science and peace have been awarded since 1901.

Literature was the fourth of this year’s Nobels to be announced this week, following medicine, physics and chemistry. The peace winner will be announced in Oslo on Friday.