Canadian poet Anne Carson wins the 2026 Nobel Prize in Literature

Canadian poet, essayist and translator Anne Carson has been awarded the 2026 Nobel Prize in Literature. BBC News, thejournal.ie, irishtimes.com, France 24, DW and South China Morning Post reported that the Swedish Academy in Stockholm announced the award on Thursday. BBC News, irishtimes.com and South China Morning Post noted that the Nobel committee commended Carson for her bold and inventive work that creates new literary forms through a playful dialogue with classical traditions. [1][2][4][5][6][7]

The prize includes an award sum of 12 million Swedish kronor. BBC News reported this as approximately £900,000 or $1.2 million, while France 24 estimated it at about $1.2 million and thejournal.ie reported it as €1.07 million. According to the New York Times, Carson joins previous literature laureates including Toni Morrison, Samuel Beckett and Bob Dylan. irishtimes.com reported that out of 122 literature laureates to date, only 18 have been women. [1][2][3][4][5]

Carson was born in Toronto, Ontario, in 1950. She dropped out of the University of Toronto twice before earning her BA, MA and PhD in classics in 1981, writing her dissertation on the poet Sappho. According to thejournal.ie and irishtimes.com, Carson has worked for more than 30 years as a classics professor and taught at several universities across North America. Her earlier honours include the T. S. Eliot Prize, the Pushcart Prize and the Griffin Prize, as well as Guggenheim and MacArthur fellowships. [2][4][12][15]

irishtimes.com reported that Carson revealed in a 2024 essay for the London Review of Books that she has Parkinson's disease. She described the mortifying experience of her handwriting disintegrating and scrubbing out entire paragraphs in shame. [4]