Anne Carson wins 2026 Nobel Prize in Literature

Canadian poet and writer Anne Carson has been awarded the 2026 Nobel Prize in Literature for her "bold and inventive oeuvre" which, in playful dialogue with the classical tradition, has created new forms for contemporary literature, the Swedish Academy announced on Thursday, October 8.

Born in Toronto in 1950, Carson has devoted her career to a distinctive blend of poetry, translation and university teaching. She published her doctoral thesis in Classics, Odi et Amo Ergo Sum, in 1981 and has since forged a singular literary idiom that fuses verse, prose, scholarship and classical allusion. She is especially renowned for translating and reimagining ancient Greek literature, including works associated with Sappho and the Greek dramatists, and her acclaimed books include Autobiography of Red and Eros the Bittersweet.

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The prize, conferred by the Swedish Academy, carries an award of 12 million Swedish kronor. Last year, the Hungarian writer László Krasznahorkai received the honour.