Anne Carson wins 2026 Nobel Prize in Literature

Canadian poet, essayist, translator and classicist Anne Carson has won the 2026 Nobel Prize in Literature for work that blends classical traditions with experimental contemporary forms.

The Swedish Academy honored the 76-year-old “for her bold and inventive oeuvre that, in playful dialogue with the classical tradition, has created new forms for contemporary literature.” Anders Olsson, chairman of the Nobel Committee for Literature, said Carson’s writing occupies “the intersection between the philologist’s obsession with words and the poet’s desire for new meaning.”

Carson’s books combine poetry, fiction, essays, criticism, translation and visual or dramatic elements. Her best-known works include *Autobiography of Red*, a verse novel that reimagines the Greek myth of Geryon; *The Beauty of the Husband*; *Nox*; and *Norma Jeane Baker of Troy*, which brings together Marilyn Monroe and Helen of Troy. She has also translated works by Sappho, Sophocles and Euripides.

Born in Toronto in 1950, Carson studied classics and earned a doctorate in 1981 before teaching at universities in Canada and the United States. She is the second Canadian literature laureate after Alice Munro and the 19th woman to receive the award.

The prize carries 12 million Swedish kronor, about $1.2 million, and is due to be presented in Stockholm on December 10. Swedish Academy permanent secretary Ingrid Carlberg said Carson was surprised when reached by telephone in Iceland, where the author said she had been “listening to the wind.” Carson succeeds Hungarian novelist László Krasznahorkai, the 2025 laureate.