Poet and essayist Anne Carson wins 2026 Nobel Prize in literature

Accessibility links Skip to main content Keyboard shortcuts for audio player Home News Expand/collapse submenu for News National World Politics Business Elections Health Science Climate Race Culture Expand/collapse submenu for Culture Books Movies Television Pop Culture Food Art & Design Performing Arts Life Kit Gaming Music Expand/collapse submenu for Music Tiny Desk New Music Friday All Songs Considered Music Features Live Sessions Podcasts & Shows Expand/collapse submenu for Podcasts & Shows Daily Morning Edition Weekend Edition Saturday Weekend Edition Sunday All Things Considered Up First Here & Now NPR Politics Podcast Featured Wait Wait…Don’t Tell Me! Fresh Air Wild Card with Rachel Martin It’s Been a Minute Embedded Get NPR+ More Podcasts & Shows Search Newsletters NPR Shop Get NPR+ Tiny Desk New Music Friday All Songs Considered Music Features Live Sessions About NPR Diversity Support Careers Press Ethics Poet and essayist Anne Carson wins 2026 Nobel Prize in literature Carson’s writing, including The Beauty of the Husband, Autobiography of Red, and Eros the Bittersweet, is eclectic in genre and theme. Book News & Features Poet and essayist Anne Carson wins 2026 Nobel Prize in literature October 8, 20264:45 AM ET Heard on Morning Edition By 

Poet Anne Carson at the 75th National Book Awards in 2024. Andy Kropa//Invision/AP hide caption

The Canadian writer Anne Carson — known for her singular approach to classical and modern poetry — was awarded the Nobel Prize in literature on Thursday.

The 76-year-old poet and essayist was honored “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 in its announcement.

Carson’s writing, including The Beauty of the Husband, Autobiography of Red, and Eros the Bittersweet, is eclectic in genre and theme.

Autobiography of Red, for example, is a novel in verse inspired by fragments of a Greek myth, while The Beauty of the Husband is a narrative poem that tells the story of a marriage in 29 tangos.

Carson is also a professor, having taught courses on translation, artistic collaboration and the classics.

In a 2016 interview about her poetry collection Float, NPR’s Scott Simon asked the author what drew her to ancient Greece.

Culture László Krasznahorkai wins 2025 Nobel Prize in literature “The Greek language seems different than other languages … it seems, somehow, more original, more like being in the morning of language,” Carson said. “And that’s partly because the words are new. Those people are inventing ways of thinking about stuff, but also because we have thousands of years of building the words into other things, using their words to build out our words.”

On her own approach to writing, she said “with every sentence, there is that attempt to make something new happen inside, moving from this word to that word.”

Other recent recipients of the Nobel Prize in literature have included the Hungarian novelist László Krasznahorkai, South Korean author Han Kang and Norwegian author and playwright Jon Fosse. The prize has also been awarded to Toni Morrison, Bob Dylan and Kazuo Ishiguro.

NPR does not offer or accept money for coverage or interviews. Anyone who makes such an offer or request is not an NPR employee and does not represent NPR.