Anne Carson, the Canadian poet and writer celebrated for bending literary rules and reviving ancient texts for modern readers, has been awarded the 2026 Nobel Prize in Literature. The Swedish Academy said today it is honouring Carson “for her bold and inventive oeuvre that, in playful dialogue with the classical tradition, has created new forms for contemporary literature.”
The Nobel Prize in Literature, awarded by the Swedish Academy, carries a purse of 12 million Swedish crowns (€1.07m).
Carson, a poet and essayist, has built a reputation on work that refuses to stay in one lane, weaving verse, prose, dialogue and translation into a distinctive hybrid style.
She is particularly renowned for translations of classical Greek literature, a deep influence that runs through a body of work spanning opera libretti, literary criticism and verse novels, including the 1998 title ‘Autobiography of Red’.
Her approach is perhaps best captured in ‘Norma Jeane Baker of Troy’ from 2019, a performance piece that fuses Helen of Troy’s story in Euripides’ play ‘Helen’ with the life and legend of Marilyn Monroe.
Copies of Anne Carson’s books on display at the Swedish Academy in Stockholm today
Writer in Iceland ‘listening to the wind’
Reacting to the news, Ms Carson said the Swedish Academy’s decision left her stunned.
“Crazy. I think they’re all crazy… Well, you know, it’s crazy,” Ms Carson, who is currently in Iceland, told public broadcaster RUV shortly after the announcement.
Ingrid Carlberg, the Academy’s permanent secretary, said she had briefly spoken to Ms Carson by phone and that the writer was in Iceland “listening to the wind” when the call came through.
“You can’t help but listen to the wind here,” Ms Carson told RUV, gripping her cap to stop it from blowing away.
Ms Carson has spent part of each year in Iceland for more than 15 years and holds citizenship there, according to RUV.
Asked whether the Nobel might expand her audience, Ms Carson offered a dry, understated answer: “Well, I guess the publisher hopes so.”
“I’ll get a sticker on the front of my books,” she added.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney called Carson’s Nobel win a “proud moment” for the country.
Writing on X, he said the 76-year-old’s work is marked by “wit, imagination, and a style entirely her own”.
“She has brought ancient stories to new audiences and transformed the way we think about literature,” he said, describing the honour as “an extraordinary achievement and a proud moment for Canada.”
Ms Carson will receive her award from King Carl XVI Gustaf in Stockholm on 10 December.
With the prize, Ms Carson joins a roll of Nobel Literature laureates that includes Alexander Solzhenitsyn, Alice Munro and Ernest Hemingway—an award that regularly sparks debate among devoted readers.
The Swedish Academy has faced harsh criticism over the years for overlooking major figures of the past 120 years, including Leo Tolstoy, Virginia Woolf and Jorge Luis Borges; it has also been faulted for passing over US authors—though it awarded the prize to singer-songwriter Bob Dylan in 2016—and for choices some regard as overly obscure.
Supporters counter that the Academy has also selected widely embraced authors, such as Colombia’s Gabriel Garcia Marquez in 1982 and Doris Lessing in 2007, and argue that the Nobel’s mission includes elevating lesser-known literary traditions and urging readers to look beyond familiar canons.
Created under the will of Swedish dynamite inventor and businessman Alfred Nobel, the prizes recognising achievements in literature, science and peace have been awarded since 1901.
Last year’s Nobel Prize in Literature went to Hungarian writer Laszlo Krasznahorkai, described as the “master of the apocalypse” by American critic Susan Sontag.
