Anne Carson wins 2026 Nobel Prize in Literature

Canadian poet and writer Anne Carson has been awarded the 2026 Nobel Prize in Literature, the Swedish Academy announced on Thursday 8 October (Reuters).

The Academy praised Carson “for her bold and inventive oeuvre that, in playful dialogue with the classical tradition, has created new forms for contemporary literature.” The prize carries a value of 12 million Swedish crowns, about $1.2 million.

Carson’s work blends verse, prose, dialogue and translation, and she is widely known for her translations of classical Greek literature. Her body of work includes the verse novel Autobiography of Red (1998) and Norma Jeane Baker of Troy (2019), a performance piece that mixes Helen of Troy in Euripides’ Helen with Marilyn Monroe.

Last year’s literature prize went to Hungarian writer László Krasznahorkai. The Nobel Prizes were established by Alfred Nobel’s will and have been awarded since 1901.