The Swedish Academy announced today that Canadian author Anne Carson has won the 2026 Nobel Prize in Literature. The academy cited her "bold and inventive oeuvre that, in playful dialogue with the classical tradition, has created new forms for contemporary literature."

Carson, 76, was born in Toronto in 1950. Her work spans poetry, prose, essays, and translations, often drawing on ancient Greek literature and mythology. Key books include the verse novel Autobiography of Red from 1998 and Norma Jeane Baker of Troy from 2019, which merges stories of Helen of Troy and Marilyn Monroe.

The permanent secretary of the Swedish Academy, Ingrid Carlberg, noted that Carson was in Iceland when notified and expressed surprise. Carson holds Icelandic citizenship since 2022. The prize carries a monetary award of 12 million Swedish crowns, approximately $1.2 million.

Carson has long combined writing with teaching classics at universities. Her translations of Sappho, Sophocles, and Euripides stand as independent literary achievements. She is the third Canadian to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature.

The award recognizes Carson's career-long focus on the intersection of precise language and poetic innovation. The formal ceremony will take place in Stockholm in December.