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Anne Carson wins the Nobel prize in literature while 'listening to the wind' in Iceland

The Canadian poet and essayist Anne Carson won the 2026 Nobel prize in literature on Thursday, October 8. The Swedish Academy praised her “bold and inventive oeuvre that, in playful dialogue with the classical tradition, has created new forms for contemporary literature”. The Guardian said she is the 19th woman among 123 literature laureates, and receives 12m Swedish kronor (£900,000).

“She had time to tell me that she is, for the moment, in Iceland, where she is listening to the wind.” — Ingrid Carlberg, Swedish Academy, via The Guardian

Born in Toronto in 1950, Carson has taught classics at Princeton, New York University and McGill. Her best-known book, Autobiography of Red (1998), retells a Greek myth as a novel in verse. Al Jazeera said she told Icelandic broadcaster RUV the news was “crazy”, noted that she also holds Icelandic citizenship, and recalled that she revealed in 2024 that she has Parkinson's disease. The Korea Herald, carrying AP, listed Men in the Off Hours, which won Canada's Griffin prize in 2001. The UAE's Khaleej Times led on the Canadian win.

How each outlet framed it

• The Guardian — the literary case, with a reader's guide on where to start with her books.
• Al Jazeera — her reaction, her Iceland ties and her health.
• The Korea Herald (AP) — a short overview of her major titles.
• Khaleej Times — a news brief on the winner.

For readers: The Guardian published a separate guide on where to start with her books, and noted that Carson was the first woman to win the TS Eliot prize, in 2001, for The Beauty of the Husband.