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Canadian poet, essayist and classicist Anne Carson has won the 2026 Nobel Prize in Literature for her distinctive body of work exploring love, desire, despair and the classical tradition.
The Swedish Academy announced the 76-year-old as this year’s laureate on Thursday, praising her “bold and inventive oeuvre” for creating new forms of contemporary literature through its engagement with classical traditions.
The Academy’s permanent secretary, Ingrid Carlberg, said she briefly spoke with Carson after the announcement and found her both surprised and delighted by the news.
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Carson was in Iceland at the time of the announcement, where she told Carlberg she was listening to the wind.
“We didn’t have so much time to speak. All she had time to tell me was that she is for the moment in Iceland, where she’s listening to the wind.
“She was taken by surprise, but very happy. I could hear that in her voice, ” she said.
The Swedish Academy said much of Carson’s work explores the meeting point between a philologist’s close attention to language and a poet’s search for new meanings.
It particularly highlighted Nox, Carson’s experimental work dedicated to her late brother, describing the poem as an unforgettable work. The piece was printed on a single continuous sheet of paper.
Carson had been regarded as a potential Nobel laureate for several years, with her work attracting sustained attention from literary critics.
Her award also comes at a time of continued scrutiny of the Swedish Academy over the gender and geographical balance of its Nobel selections. Only 19 women have received the literature prize out of 122 laureates since the award was first presented in 1901.
The Academy underwent major changes following a sexual assault scandal in 2018, which resulted in the replacement of more than half of its 18 members. Since then, women have accounted for half of the literature laureates selected.
Last year, the Nobel Prize in Literature went to Hungarian writer Laszlo Krasznahorkai, whose work explores themes including dystopia and the human condition.
