Anne Carson, a genre-bending Canadian writer, wins 2026 Nobel Prize in literature

By Issy Ronald, CNN

(CNN) — Anne Carson, the Canadian writer and classicist whose work blends verse, prose and essay with influences from Greek myths, has won the 2026 Nobel Prize in literature for her “bold and inventive oeuvre.”

Carson’s “playful dialogue with the classical tradition has created new forms for contemporary literature,” the Nobel committee said in a statement.

The prize, announced at the Swedish Academy in Stockholm on Thursday, carries a cash award of 12 million Swedish kronor ($1.2 million).

Carson, 76, is an accomplished classicist who has taught at multiple colleges in the US and Canada while also producing works like “The Beauty of the Husband,” “An Autobiography of Red: A Novel in Verse,” and “Nox.” Her distinctive essays, prose and poetry, in which the ancient and modern live side-by-side, garnered her critical acclaim.

Balancing multiple ideas, genres and forms is central to her work. “Almost all her literary production has centered upon the intersection between the philologist’s obsession with words and the poet’s desire for new meaning,” said Anders Olsson, chairman of the Nobel Committee for Literature.

For example, in “Autobiography of Red: A Novel in Verse,” the work that made her name, her long narrative verse is framed by an erudite, enigmatic discussion of Stesichorus, the Greek poet who inspired her. In Stesichorus’ original myth, Heracles – better known by his Latin name of Hercules – kills the winged monster Geryon and steals his red cattle as one of his 12 labours. In Carson’s 1998 retelling, she recasts Geryon as a “tender ‘hero’ devoted to his mother,” who “having earlier been subjected to sexual assaults at the hands of his brother, falls in love with the smug and boorish Heracles,” the Nobel committee said.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

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