Canadian poet and author Anne Carson has won the 2026 Nobel Prize in Literature.
The Royal Swedish Academy announced Carson as the recipient of the prestigious award on Thursday in Stockholm, Sweden.
The Academy’s Secretary-General, Ingrid Carlberg, said Carson was honoured for a body of work that combines innovation with a sustained engagement with classical literature.
“Ms Carson was honoured for her bold and inventive oeuvre that in playful dialogue with the classical tradition, has created new forms for contemporary literature,” Carlberg said.
She disclosed that she spoke with Carson by telephone after the announcement and found the author in Iceland, where she was “listening to the wind”.
Carlberg said Carson was “very taken by surprise” when she learnt that she had won the prize.
Carson, 76, is a poet, essayist and classicist whose works often draw on ancient Greek and Roman literature while exploring contemporary themes such as love, desire, grief and despair.
She studied at the University of Toronto and subsequently pursued an academic career, teaching comparative literature and creative writing at institutions in Canada and the United States.
The author has published more than 20 books during a career distinguished by her experimentation with literary form and her blending of poetry, prose, translation and classical scholarship.
Her writing has been noted for bringing elements of antiquity and mysticism into dialogue with modern literary expression.
Carson succeeds Hungarian novelist László Krasznahorkai, who won the 2025 Nobel Prize in Literature.
The Nobel Prize in Literature is one of the awards established by Swedish industrialist and philanthropist Alfred Nobel and is presented annually to recognise outstanding literary achievement.
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