STOCKHOLM: Canadian poet and writer Anne Carson won the 2026 Nobel Prize in Literature on Thursday 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.
The prize is worth 12 million Swedish crowns ($1.2 million).
Carson’s work frequently combines verse, prose, dialogue and translation in a genre-defying style. She is widely known for her translations of classical Greek literature, which have strongly influenced her writing across poetry, literary criticism, opera libretti and verse novels.
Her notable works include “Autobiography of Red”, published in 1998, while her 2019 performance piece “Norma Jeane Baker of Troy” combines the story of Helen of Troy from Euripides’ play “Helen” with the life and image of Marilyn Monroe.
Carson joins a distinguished list of Nobel laureates including Alexander Solzhenitsyn, Alice Munro and Ernest Hemingway.
The literature prize has often sparked debate among readers and critics. The Swedish Academy has faced criticism for overlooking major literary figures including Leo Tolstoy, Virginia Woolf and Jorge Luis Borges, as well as accusations of favouring obscure choices and underrepresenting American writers. It awarded the prize to US singer-songwriter Bob Dylan in 2016.
Defenders of the Academy argue that it has also recognised widely popular writers, including Colombia’s Gabriel Garcia Marquez in 1982 and Doris Lessing in 2007, while seeking to highlight lesser-known literary traditions and encourage readers to explore a broader range of authors.
Established through the will of Swedish inventor and businessman Alfred Nobel, the Nobel Prizes for achievements in literature, science and peace have been awarded since 1901.
Last year’s Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded to Hungarian writer Laszlo Krasznahorkai, who was described by American critic Susan Sontag as the “master of the apocalypse”.
