The Canadian author was one of the favorites in the speculation leading up to the announcement and will now receive the world’s most prestigious literary prize, worth 12 million kronor (about $1.1 million).
“Just a few minutes ago, I managed to reach Anne Carson by phone. She was very surprised. We didn’t have much time to talk, and the only thing she managed to tell me was that she is currently in Iceland, where she is listening to the wind,” says Ingrid Carlberg, permanent secretary of the Swedish Academy, after the announcement at the Stock Exchange Building.
When Icelandic television reaches Anne Carson, she confirms in a feature posted by SVT (Swedish public broadcaster) that she is in Iceland “to listen to the wind.”
You can’t help but listen to the wind here. We live with the wind here, says the author.
Anne Carson was born in Toronto, Canada, but has lived partly in the United States for many years, where she has taught classical languages and creative writing at North American universities.
Get a sticker
Anne Carson has also been an Icelandic citizen since 2022 and spends part of the year in Iceland, a country she has returned to since 2008.
Anne Carson says she received a call from the Swedish Academy, but that it was a brief conversation, much like the television interview.
It was like this (the interview). Quite a bit of a stumble. The usual questions - and I have no answers.
But it is clear that her writing is now reaching a wider audience thanks to the Nobel Prize.
“I guess the publisher hopes so. I guess I’ll get a sticker on the book, and stickers help,” says Anne Carson.
“Imaginative works”
Anne Carson receives the prize for her “bold and imaginative works, which in playful dialogue with the classical tradition have created new forms for contemporary literature,” according to the citation from the Swedish Academy.
Carson had her breakthrough with the verse novel “Röd självbiografi” (1998), and in 2021 the drama “Norma Jeane Baker av Troja” was translated into Swedish. The year before, the poetry collection “Lediga män” and the essay book “Eros den bitterljuva” were published in Swedish.
In “Kort sagt” from 1992 (published in Swedish in 2017), she collected brief, lyrical texts in which she discusses everything from Brigitte Bardot to autism.
Just this past week, her latest book, “Fel Norma,” published in 2024, was released in Swedish. The collection covers a range of topics - everything from Joseph Conrad to snow and poverty, according to the publisher.
The prize money is 12 million kronor (about $1.1 million).
The ten most recent laureates are: Anne Carson (2026), László Krasznahorkai (2025), Han Kang (2024), Jon Fosse (2023), Annie Ernaux (2022), Abdulrazak Gurnah (2021), Louise Glück (2020), Peter Handke (2019), Olga Tokarczuk (2018), Kazuo Ishiguro (2017).
