Genre-defying poet and writer Anne Carson wins Nobel Prize in Literature

STOCKHOLM, Oct 8 (Reuters) – Canadian poet and writer Anne Carson, whose work often blends verse, prose, ​dialogue and translation in a genre-defying mix, won the 2026 Nobel Prize in Literature on Thursday for what the Swedish Academy called her “bold and inventive oeuvre.”“Crazy, I think they’re all crazy,” Carson ‌told Icelandic broadcaster RUV when asked how she was feeling after learning she had won while on the Arctic island.“I’ll get a sticker on the front of my book.”Carson, 76, who was born in Toronto and has a home in Iceland, had been taken by surprise when called with the news, said Ingrid Carlberg, permanent secretary of the Academy, which awards the prize worth 12 million Swedish crowns ($1.2 million).“All she had time to tell me was that she is for the moment in Iceland, where she’s listening to the wind,” Carlberg told a ​press conference in Stockholm after the announcement.She is widely known for her translations of classical Greek literature, which heavily influences her work that ranges from opera libretti to literary criticism and verse novels such as “Autobiography ​of Red” from 1998.“Genre is something for booksellers.

It’s something you do in order to appeal to an audience and make them buy books.And on what shelf do ⁠you put Anne Carson’s books? It’s on a shelf of her own,” said Swedish novelist Steve Sem-Sandberg, who is a member of the award committee.

“That’s what I like about her.”In its citation, the Swedish Academy ​said it was recognizing Carson “for her bold and inventive oeuvre that, in playful dialogue with the classical tradition, has created new forms for contemporary literature.”“Almost all her literary production has centred upon the intersection between the philologist’s obsession with words and ​the poet’s desire for new meaning,” the Academy said.“She has herself identified the etymology of words as the starting point for all her work.Her translations f...