Genre-defying Canadian poet Anne Carson wins Literature Nobel

Stockholm: Canadian poet and writer Anne Carson won the 2026 Nobel Prize in Literature “for her bold and inventive oeuvre that, in playful dialogue with the classical tradition, has created new forms for contemporary literature”, the Swedish Academy said on Thursday.

“She was very taken by surprise,” said Ingrid Carlberg, permanent secretary of the academy, which awards the prize worth 12 million Swedish crowns ($1.2 million).

“We didn’t have so much time to speak, and all she had time to tell me was that she is for the moment in Iceland, where she’s listening to the wind.”

Carson’s work often blends verse, prose, dialogue and translation in a genre-defying mix. Born in Toronto, the 76-year-old has also held Icelandic citizenship since 2022 and has spent considerable time on the Arctic island in recent years. She is widely known for her translations of classical Greek literature, which heavily influences her work that ranges from opera libretti to literary criticism and verse novels such as “Autobiography of Red” from 1998. “Almost all her literary production has centred upon the intersection between the philologist’s obsession with words and the poet’s desire for new meaning,” the ⁠Academy said. “She has herself identified the etymology of words as the starting point for all her work. Her translations from Classical Greek may be regarded as independent works in their own right.”