List of Nobel laureates in Literature

Horace Engdahl, the former permanent secretary of the Swedish Academy, announcing that Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clézio was awarded the 2008 Nobel Prize in Literature

The Nobel Prize in Literature (Swedish: Nobelpriset i litteratur) is awarded annually by the Swedish Academy to authors for outstanding contributions in the field of literature. It is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the 1895 will of Alfred Nobel, which are awarded for outstanding contributions in chemistry, physics, literature, peace, and physiology or medicine.^[1] As dictated by Nobel's will, the award is administered by the Nobel Foundation and awarded by the Swedish Academy.^[2] The first Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded in 1901 to Sully Prudhomme of France.^[3] Each recipient receives a medal, a diploma and a monetary award prize that has varied throughout the years.^[4] In 1901, Prudhomme received 150,782 SEK, which is equivalent to 8,823,637.78 SEK in January 2018. The award is presented in Stockholm at an annual ceremony on December 10, the anniversary of Nobel's death.^[5]

As of 2021, the Nobel Prize in Literature has been awarded to 118 individuals.^[6] The youngest laureate was Rudyard Kipling, who was 41 years old when he was awarded in 1907. The oldest laureate to receive the prize was Doris Lessing, who was 88 when she was awarded in 2007. It has been awarded posthumously once, to Erik Axel Karlfeldt in 1931.^[7] When he received the award in 1958, Russian-born Boris Pasternak was forced to publicly reject the award under pressure from the government of the Soviet Union. In 1964, Jean-Paul Sartre made known that he did not wish to accept the Nobel Prize in Literature,^[8] as he had consistently refused all official honors in the past.^[9] However the Nobel committee does not acknowledge refusals, and includes Pasternak and Sartre in its list of Nobel laureates.^[10]

Sixteen women have been awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, the second highest number of any of the Nobel Prizes behind the Nobel Peace Prize.^[11][12] There have been four instances in which the award was given to two people (1904, 1917, 1966, 1974). There have been seven years in which the Nobel Prize in Literature was not awarded (1914, 1918, 1935, 1940–1943). There have been three years for which the Nobel Prize in Literature was delayed one year: the prizes for 1915,^[13] 1949^[14] and 2018^[15][16][6] were each awarded together with that of the following year in October of the following year. As of 2021, there have been 29 English-speaking laureates of the Nobel Prize in Literature, followed by French with 15 laureates and German with 14 laureates.

Laureates[]

Year	Picture	Laureate	Country	Language(s)	Citation	Genre(s)
1901		Sully Prudhomme (1839–1907)	France	French	"in special recognition of his poetic composition, which gives evidence of lofty idealism, artistic perfection and a rare combination of the qualities of both heart and intellect"[17]	poetry, essay
1902		Theodor Mommsen (1817–1903)	Germany	German	"the greatest living master of the art of historical writing, with special reference to his monumental work A History of Rome"[18]	history, law
1903		Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson (1832–1910)	Norway	Norwegian	"as a tribute to his noble, magnificent and versatile poetry, which has always been distinguished by both the freshness of its inspiration and the rare purity of its spirit"[19]	poetry, novel, drama
1904		Frédéric Mistral (1830–1914)	France	Provençal	"in recognition of the fresh originality and true inspiration of his poetic production, which faithfully reflects the natural scenery and native spirit of his people, and, in addition, his significant work as a Provençal philologist"[20]	poetry, philology
		José Echegaray (1832–1916)	Spain	Spanish	"in recognition of the numerous and brilliant compositions which, in an individual and original manner, have revived the great traditions of the Spanish drama"[20]	drama
1905		Henryk Sienkiewicz (1846–1916)	Poland ( Russian Empire)	Polish	"because of his outstanding merits as an epic writer"[21]	novel
1906		Giosuè Carducci (1835–1907)	Italy	Italian	"not only in consideration of his deep learning and critical research, but above all as a tribute to the creative energy, freshness of style, and lyrical force which characterize his poetic masterpieces"[22]	poetry
1907		Rudyard Kipling (1865–1936)	United Kingdom	English	"in consideration of the power of observation, originality of imagination, virility of ideas and remarkable talent for narration that characterize the creations of this world-famous author"[23]	novel, short story, poetry
1908		Rudolf Christoph Eucken (1846–1926)	Germany	German	"in recognition of his earnest search for truth, his penetrating power of thought, his wide range of vision, and the warmth and strength in presentation with which in his numerous works he has vindicated and developed an idealistic philosophy of life"[24]	philosophy
1909		Selma Lagerlöf (1858–1940)	Sweden	Swedish	"in appreciation of the lofty idealism, vivid imagination and spiritual perception that characterize her writings"[25]	novel, short story
1910		Paul von Heyse (1830–1914)	Germany	German	"as a tribute to the consummate artistry, permeated with idealism, which he has demonstrated during his long productive career as a lyric poet, dramatist, novelist and writer of world-renowned short stories"[26]	poetry, drama, novel, short story
1911		Maurice Maeterlinck (1862–1949)	Belgium	French	"in appreciation of his many-sided literary activities, and especially of his dramatic works, which are distinguished by a wealth of imagination and by a poetic fancy, which reveals, sometimes in the guise of a fairy tale, a deep inspiration, while in a mysterious way they appeal to the readers' own feelings and stimulate their imaginations"[27]	drama, poetry, essay
1912		Gerhart Hauptmann (1862–1949)	Germany	German	"primarily in recognition of his fruitful, varied and outstanding production in the realm of dramatic art"[28]	drama, novel
1913		Rabindranath Tagore (1861–1941)	India ( British Empire)	Bengali and English	"because of his profoundly sensitive, fresh and beautiful verse, by which, with consummate skill, he has made his poetic thought, expressed in his own English words, a part of the literature of the West"[29]	poetry, novel, drama, short story, playwright, music, essay, philosophy, literary criticism, translation, painting
1914	Not awarded
1915		Romain Rolland (1866–1940)	France	French	"as a tribute to the lofty idealism of his literary production and to the sympathy and love of truth with which he has described different types of human beings"[13]	novel
1916		Verner von Heidenstam (1859–1940)	Sweden	Swedish	"in recognition of his significance as the leading representative of a new era in our literature"[30]	poetry, novel
1917		Karl Adolph Gjellerup (1857–1919)	Denmark	Danish and German	"for his varied and rich poetry, which is inspired by lofty ideals"[31]	poetry
		Henrik Pontoppidan (1857–1943)	Denmark	Danish	"for his authentic descriptions of present-day life in Denmark"[31]	novel
1918	Not awarded
1919		Carl Spitteler (1845–1924)	Switzerland	German	"in special appreciation of his epic, Olympian Spring"[32]	poetry
1920		Knut Hamsun (1859–1952)	Norway	Norwegian	"for his monumental work, Growth of the Soil"[33]	novel
1921		Anatole France (1844–1924)	France	French	"in recognition of his brilliant literary achievements, characterized as they are by a nobility of style, a profound human sympathy, grace, and a true Gallic temperament"[34]	novel, poetry
1922		Jacinto Benavente (1866–1954)	Spain	Spanish	"for the happy manner in which he has continued the illustrious traditions of the Spanish drama"[35]	drama
1923		William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)	Ireland	English	"for his always inspired poetry, which in a highly artistic form gives expression to the spirit of a whole nation"[36]	poetry
1924		Władysław Reymont (1867–1925)	Poland	Polish	"for his great national epic, The Peasants"[37]	novel
1925		George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950)	UK  Ireland[38]	English	"for his work which is marked by both idealism and humanity, its stimulating satire often being infused with a singular poetic beauty"[39]	drama, literary criticism
1926		Grazia Deledda (1871–1936)	Italy	Italian	"for her idealistically inspired writings, which with plastic clarity picture the life on her native island and with depth and sympathy deal with human problems in general"[40]	poetry, novel
1927		Henri Bergson (1859–1941)	France	French	"in recognition of his rich and vitalizing ideas and the brilliant skill with which they have been presented"[41]	philosophy
1928		Sigrid Undset (1882–1949)	Norway  Denmark (Born in Denmark)	Norwegian and Danish	"principally for her powerful descriptions of Northern life during the Middle Ages"[42]	novel
1929		Thomas Mann (1875–1955)	Germany	German	"principally for his great novel, Buddenbrooks, which has won steadily increased recognition as one of the classic works of contemporary literature"[43]	novel, short story, essay
1930		Sinclair Lewis (1885–1951)	United States	English	"for his vigorous and graphic art of description and his ability to create, with wit and humour, new types of characters"[44]	novel, short story, drama
1931		Erik Axel Karlfeldt (1864–1931)	Sweden	Swedish	"The poetry of Erik Axel Karlfeldt"[45]	poetry
1932		John Galsworthy (1867–1933)	United Kingdom	English	"for his distinguished art of narration, which takes its highest form in The Forsyte Saga"[46]	novel
1933		Ivan Bunin (1870–1953)	Stateless (Born in Russian Empire)	Russian	"for the strict artistry with which he has carried on the classical Russian traditions in prose writing"[47]	short story, poetry, novel
1934		Luigi Pirandello (1867–1936)	Italy	Italian	"for his bold and ingenious revival of dramatic and scenic art"[48]	drama, novel, short story
1935	Not awarded
1936		Eugene O'Neill (1888–1953)	United States	English	"for the power, honesty and deep-felt emotions of his dramatic works, which embody an original concept of tragedy"[49]	drama
1937		Roger Martin du Gard (1881–1958)	France	French	"for the artistic power and truth with which he has depicted human conflict as well as some fundamental aspects of contemporary life in his novel cycle Les Thibault"[50]	novel
1938		Pearl Buck (1892–1973)	United States	English	"for her rich and truly epic descriptions of peasant life in China and for her biographical masterpieces"[51]	novel, biography
1939		Frans Eemil Sillanpää (1888–1964)	Finland	Finnish	"for his deep understanding of his country's peasantry and the exquisite art with which he has portrayed their way of life and their relationship with Nature"[52]	novel
1940	Not awarded
1941	Not awarded
1942	Not awarded
1943	Not awarded
1944		Johannes Vilhelm Jensen (1873–1950)	Denmark	Danish	"for the rare strength and fertility of his poetic imagination with which is combined an intellectual curiosity of wide scope and a bold, freshly creative style"[53]	novel, short story
1945		Gabriela Mistral (1889–1957)	Chile	Spanish	"for her lyric poetry, which inspired by powerful emotions, has made her name a symbol of the idealistic aspirations of the entire Latin American world"[54]	poetry
1946		Hermann Hesse (1877–1962)	Germany   Switzerland (Born in Germany)	German	"for his inspired writings, which while growing in boldness and penetration, exemplify the classical humanitarian ideals and high qualities of style"[55]	novel, poetry
1947		André Gide (1869–1951)	France	French	"for his comprehensive and artistically significant writings, in which human problems and conditions have been presented with a fearless love of truth and keen psychological insight"[56]	novel, essay
1948		Thomas Stearns Eliot (1888–1965)	United Kingdom (Born in the United States)	English	"for his outstanding, pioneer contribution to present-day poetry"[57]	poetry
1949		William Faulkner (1897–1962)	United States	English	"for his powerful and artistically unique contribution to the modern American novel"[14]	novel, short story
1950		Bertrand Russell (1872–1970)	United Kingdom	English	"in recognition of his varied and significant writings in which he champions humanitarian ideals and freedom of thought"[58]	philosophy
1951		Pär Lagerkvist (1891–1974)	Sweden	Swedish	"for the artistic vigour and true independence of mind with which he endeavours in his poetry to find answers to the eternal questions confronting mankind"[59]	poetry, novel, short story, drama
1952		François Mauriac (1885–1970)	France	French	"for the deep spiritual insight and the artistic intensity with which he has in his novels penetrated the drama of human life"[60]	novel, short story
1953		Winston Churchill (1874–1965)	United Kingdom	English	"for his mastery of historical and biographical description as well as for brilliant oratory in defending exalted human values"[61]	history, essay, memoirs
1954		Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961)	United States	English	"for his mastery of the art of narrative, most recently demonstrated in The Old Man and the Sea, and for the influence that he has exerted on contemporary style"[62]	novel, short story, screenplay
1955		Halldór Laxness (1902–1998)	Iceland	Icelandic	"for his vivid epic power, which has renewed the great narrative art of Iceland"[63]	novel, short story, drama, poetry
1956		Juan Ramón Jiménez (1881–1958)	Spain	Spanish	"for his lyrical poetry, which in Spanish language constitutes an example of high spirit and artistical purity"[64]	poetry
1957		Albert Camus (1913–1960)	France	French	"for his important literary production, which with clear-sighted earnestness illuminates the problems of the human conscience in our times"[65]	novel, short story, drama, philosophy, essay
1958		Boris Pasternak (1890–1960)	Soviet Union	Russian	"for his important achievement both in contemporary lyrical poetry and in the field of the great Russian epic tradition"[66]	novel, poetry, translation
1959		Salvatore Quasimodo (1890–1960)	Italy	Italian	"for his lyrical poetry, which with classical fire expresses the tragic experience of life in our own times"[67]	poetry
1960		Saint-John Perse (1887–1975)	France (Born in Guadeloupe)	French	"for the soaring flight and the evocative imagery of his poetry, which in a visionary fashion reflects the conditions of our time"[68]	poetry
1961		Ivo Andrić (1892–1975)	Yugoslavia (Born in Austria-Hungary)	Serbian	"for the epic force with which he has traced themes and depicted human destinies drawn from the history of his country"[69]	novel, short story
1962		John Steinbeck (1902–1968)	United States	English	"for his realistic and imaginative writings, combining as they do sympathetic humour and keen social perception"[70]	novel, short story, screenplay
1963		Giorgos Seferis (1900–1971)	Greece (Born in the Ottoman Empire)	Greek	"for his eminent lyrical writing, inspired by a deep feeling for the Hellenic world of culture"[71]	poetry, essay, memoirs
1964		Jean-Paul Sartre (1905–1980)	France	French	"for his work, which rich in ideas and filled with the spirit of freedom and the quest for truth, has exerted a far-reaching influence on our age"[72]	novel, short story, philosophy, drama, literary criticism, screenplay
1965		Mikhail Sholokhov (1905–1984)	Soviet Union	Russian	"for the artistic power and integrity with which, in his epic of the Don, he has given expression to a historic phase in the life of the Russian people"[73]	novel
1966		Shmuel Yosef Agnon (1888–1970)	Israel (Born in Austria-Hungary)	Hebrew	"for his profoundly characteristic narrative art with motifs from the life of the Jewish people"[74]	novel, short story
		Nelly Sachs (1891–1970)	Germany  Sweden	German	"for her outstanding lyrical and dramatic writing, which interprets Israel's destiny with touching strength"[74]	poetry, drama
1967		Miguel Ángel Asturias (1899–1974)	Guatemala	Spanish	"for his vivid literary achievement, deep-rooted in the national traits and traditions of Indian peoples of Latin America"[75]	novel, poetry
1968		Yasunari Kawabata (1899–1972)	Japan	Japanese	"for his narrative mastery, which with great sensibility expresses the essence of the Japanese mind"[76]	novel, short story
1969		Samuel Beckett (1906–1989)	Ireland	French and English	"for his writing, which – in new forms for the novel and drama – in the destitution of modern man acquires its elevation"[77]	novel, drama, poetry
1970		Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (1918–2008)	Soviet Union	Russian	"for the ethical force with which he has pursued the indispensable traditions of Russian literature"[78]	novel
1971		Pablo Neruda (1904–1973)	Chile	Spanish	"for a poetry that with the action of an elemental force brings alive a continent's destiny and dreams"[79]	poetry
1972		Heinrich Böll (1917–1985)	West Germany	German	"for his writing, which through its combination of a broad perspective on his time and a sensitive skill in characterization has contributed to a renewal of German literature"[80]	novel, short story
1973		Patrick White (1912–1990)	Australia (Born in the United Kingdom)	English	"for an epic and psychological narrative art, which has introduced a new continent into literature"[81]	novel, short story, drama
1974		Eyvind Johnson (1900–1976)	Sweden	Swedish	"for a narrative art, farseeing in lands and ages, in the service of freedom"[82]	novel
		Harry Martinson (1904–1978)	Sweden	Swedish	"for writings that catch the dewdrop and reflect the cosmos"[82]	poetry, novel, drama
1975		Eugenio Montale (1896–1981)	Italy	Italian	"for his distinctive poetry, which, with great artistic sensitivity, has interpreted human values under the sign of an outlook on life with no illusions"[83]	poetry
1976		Saul Bellow (1915–2005)	United States (Born in Canada)	English	"for the human understanding and subtle analysis of contemporary culture that are combined in his work"[84]	novel, short story
1977		Vicente Aleixandre (1898–1984)	Spain	Spanish	"for a creative poetic writing, which illuminates man's condition in the cosmos and in present-day society, at the same time representing the great renewal of the traditions of Spanish poetry between the wars"[85]	poetry
1978		Isaac Bashevis Singer (1902–1991)	United States  Poland	Yiddish	"for his impassioned narrative art which, with roots in a Polish-Jewish cultural tradition, brings universal human conditions to life"[86]	novel, short story, memoirs
1979		Odysseas Elytis (1911–1996)	Greece	Greek	"for his poetry, which, against the background of Greek tradition, depicts with sensuous strength and intellectual clear-sightedness modern man's struggle for freedom and creativeness"[87]	poetry, essay
1980		Czesław Miłosz (1911–2004)	Poland (Born in Russian Empire)	Polish	"who with uncompromising clear-sightedness voices man's exposed condition in a world of severe conflicts"[88]	poetry, essay
1981		Elias Canetti (1905–1994)	United Kingdom  Bulgaria	German	"for writings marked by a broad outlook, a wealth of ideas and artistic power"[89]	novel, drama, memoirs, essay
1982		Gabriel García Márquez (1927–2014)	Colombia	Spanish	"for his novels and short stories, in which the fantastic and the realistic are combined in a richly composed world of imagination, reflecting a continent's life and conflicts"[90]	novel, short story, screenplay
1983		William Golding (1911–1993)	United Kingdom	English	"for his novels, which with the perspicuity of realistic narrative art and the diversity and universality of myth, illuminate the human condition in the world of today"[91]	novel, poetry, drama
1984		Jaroslav Seifert (1901–1986)	Czechoslovakia (Born in Austria-Hungary)	Czech	"for his poetry, which endowed with freshness, and rich inventiveness provides a liberating image of the indomitable spirit and versatility of man"[92]	poetry
1985		Claude Simon (1913–2005)	France (Born in French Madagascar)	French	"who in his novel combines the poet's and the painter's creativeness with a deepened awareness of time in the depiction of the human condition"[93]	novel, literary criticism
1986		Wole Soyinka (b. 1934)	Nigeria	English	"who in a wide cultural perspective and with poetic overtones fashions the drama of existence"[94]	drama, novel, poetry, screenplay
1987		Joseph Brodsky (1940–1996)	United States  Soviet Union	Russian and English	"for an all-embracing authorship, imbued with clarity of thought and poetic intensity"[95]	poetry, essay
1988		Naguib Mahfouz (1911–2006)	Egypt	Arabic	"who, through works rich in nuance – now clear-sightedly realistic, now evocatively ambiguous – has formed an Arabian narrative art that applies to all mankind"[96]	novel, short story
1989		Camilo José Cela (1916–2002)	Spain	Spanish	"for a rich and intensive prose, which with restrained compassion forms a challenging vision of man's vulnerability"[97]	novel, short story, essay, poetry
1990		Octavio Paz (1914–1998)	Mexico	Spanish	"for impassioned writing with wide horizons, characterized by sensuous intelligence and humanistic integrity"[98]	poetry, essay
1991		Nadine Gordimer (1923–2014)	South Africa	English	"who through her magnificent epic writing has – in the words of Alfred Nobel – been of very great benefit to humanity"[99]	novel, short story, essay, drama
1992		Derek Walcott (1930–2017)	Saint Lucia	English	"for a poetic oeuvre of great luminosity, sustained by a historical vision, the outcome of a multicultural commitment"[100]	poetry, drama
1993		Toni Morrison (1931–2019)	United States	English	"who in novels characterized by visionary force and poetic import, gives life to an essential aspect of American reality"[101]	novel
1994		Kenzaburō Ōe (b. 1935)	Japan	Japanese	"who with poetic force creates an imagined world, where life and myth condense to form a disconcerting picture of the human predicament today"[102]	novel, short story, essay
1995		Seamus Heaney (1939–2013)	Ireland	English	"for works of lyrical beauty and ethical depth, which exalt everyday miracles and the living past"[103]	poetry, drama, translation
1996		Wisława Szymborska (1923–2012)	Poland	Polish	"for poetry that with ironic precision allows the historical and biological context to come to light in fragments of human reality"[104]	poetry, essay, translation
1997		Dario Fo (1926–2016)	Italy	Italian	"who emulates the jesters of the Middle Ages in scourging authority and upholding the dignity of the downtrodden"[105]	drama, songwriting
1998		José Saramago (1922–2010)	Portugal	Portuguese	"who with parables sustained by imagination, compassion and irony continually enables us once again to apprehend an elusory reality"[106]	novel, drama, poetry
1999		Günter Grass (1927–2015)	Germany	German	"whose frolicsome black fables portray the forgotten face of history"[107]	novel, drama, poetry
2000		Gao Xingjian (b. 1940)	France (since 1998)  China (1940–1998)	Chinese	"for an oeuvre of universal validity, bitter insights and linguistic ingenuity, which has opened new paths for the Chinese novel and drama"[108]	novel, drama, literary criticism
2001		Vidiadhar Surajprasad Naipaul (1932–2018)	United Kingdom Trinidad and Tobago	English	"for having united perceptive narrative and incorruptible scrutiny in works that compel us to see the presence of suppressed histories"[109]	novel, essay
2002		Imre Kertész (1929–2016)	Hungary	Hungarian	"for writing that upholds the fragile experience of the individual against the barbaric arbitrariness of history"[110]	novel
2003		John Maxwell Coetzee (b. 1940)	South Africa	English	"who in innumerable guises portrays the surprising involvement of the outsider"[111]	novel, essay, translation
2004		Elfriede Jelinek (b. 1946)	Austria	German	"for her musical flow of voices and counter-voices in novels and plays that with extraordinary linguistic zeal reveal the absurdity of society's clichés and their subjugating power"[112]	novel, drama
2005		Harold Pinter (1930–2008)	United Kingdom	English	"who in his plays uncovers the precipice under everyday prattle and forces entry into oppression's closed rooms"[113]	drama, screenplay
2006		Orhan Pamuk (b. 1952)	Turkey	Turkish	"who in the quest for the melancholic soul of his native city has discovered new symbols for the clash and interlacing of cultures"[114]	novel, screenplay, autobiography, essay
2007		Doris Lessing (1919–2013)	United Kingdom  Zimbabwe (born in Iran)	English	"that epicist of the female experience, who with scepticism, fire and visionary power has subjected a divided civilisation to scrutiny"[115]	novel, drama, poetry, short story, memoirs, autobiography
2008		Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clézio (b. 1940)	France  Mauritius	French	"author of new departures, poetic adventure and sensual ecstasy, explorer of a humanity beyond and below the reigning civilization"[116]	novel, short story, essay, translation
2009		Herta Müller (b. 1953)	Germany  Romania	German	"who, with the concentration of poetry and the frankness of prose, depicts the landscape of the dispossessed"[117]	novel, short story, poetry, essay
2010		Mario Vargas Llosa (b. 1936)	Peru  Spain	Spanish	"for his cartography of structures of power and his trenchant images of the individual's resistance, revolt, and defeat"[118]	novel, short story, essay, drama, memoirs
2011		Tomas Tranströmer (1931–2015)	Sweden	Swedish	"because, through his condensed, translucent images, he gives us fresh access to reality"[119]	poetry, translation
2012		Mo Yan (b. 1955)	China	Chinese	"who with hallucinatory realism merges folk tales, history and the contemporary"[120]	novel, short story
2013		Alice Munro (b. 1931)	Canada	English	"master of the contemporary short story"[121]	short story
2014		Patrick Modiano (b. 1945)	France	French	"for the art of memory with which he has evoked the most ungraspable human destinies and uncovered the life-world of the Occupation"[122]	novel, screenplay
2015		Svetlana Alexievich (b. 1948)	Belarus (Born in the Soviet Union)	Russian	"for her polyphonic writings, a monument to suffering and courage in our time"[123]	history, essay
2016		Bob Dylan (b. 1941)	United States	English	"for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition"[124]	poetry, songwriting
2017		Kazuo Ishiguro (b. 1954)	United Kingdom (Born in Japan)	English	"who, in novels of great emotional force, has uncovered the abyss beneath our illusory sense of connection with the world"[125]	novel, screenplay, short story
2018		Olga Tokarczuk (b. 1962)	Poland	Polish	"for a narrative imagination that with encyclopedic passion represents the crossing of boundaries as a form of life"[126]	novel, short story, poetry, essay, screenplay
2019		Peter Handke (b. 1942)	Austria	German	"for an influential work that with linguistic ingenuity has explored the periphery and the specificity of human experience"[127]	novel, short story, drama, translation, screenplay
2020		Louise Glück (b. 1943)	United States	English	"for her unmistakable poetic voice that with austere beauty makes individual existence universal"[128]	poetry, essay
2021		Abdulrazak Gurnah (b. 1948)	United Kingdom  Tanzania (Born in the Sultanate of Zanzibar)	English	"for his uncompromising and compassionate penetration of the effects of colonialism and the fate of the refugee in the gulf between cultures and continents"[129]	novel

Nobel laureates by country[]

The 118 Nobel laureates in literature from 1901 to 2021 have come from the following countries:

¹Rabindranath Tagore (Nobel Prize in Literature 1913) wrote in Bengali and English, Samuel Beckett (Nobel Prize in Literature 1969) wrote in French and English and Joseph Brodsky (Nobel Prize in Literature 1987) wrote poetry in Russian and prose in English. These three Nobel laureates have been sorted under Bengali, French and Russian, respectively.^[131]

²Karl Adolph Gjellerup (Nobel Prize in Literature 1917) wrote in Danish and German.

Nobel laureates by gender[]

The 118 Nobel laureates in literature from 1901 to 2021 were from the following sexes :

References[]

Notes[]

Citations[]

Sources[]

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