Nobel prizes in Literature

All Nobel Prizes in Literature

The Nobel Prize in Literature has been awarded 109 times to 113 Nobel Laureates between 1901 and2016.

The Nobel Prize in Literature 2016 Bob Dylan"for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition"The Nobel Prize in Literature 2015 Svetlana Alexievich"for her polyphonic writings, a monument to suffering and courage in our time"The Nobel Prize in Literature 2014 Patrick Modiano"for the art of memory with which he has evoked the most ungraspable human destinies and uncovered the life-world of the occupation"The Nobel Prize in Literature 2013 Alice Munro"master of the contemporary short story"The Nobel Prize in Literature 2012 Mo Yan"who with hallucinatory realism merges folk tales, history and the contemporary"The Nobel Prize in Literature 2011Tomas Tranströmer"because, through his condensed, translucent images, he gives us fresh access to reality"

The Nobel Prize in Literature 2010 Mario Vargas Llosa"for his cartography of structures ofpower and his trenchant images of the individual's resistance, revolt, and defeat"The Nobel Prize in Literature 2009 Herta Müller"who, with the concentration of poetry and the frankness of prose, depicts the landscape of the dispossessed"The Nobel Prize in Literature 2008 Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clézio"author of new departures, poetic adventure and sensual ecstasy, explorer of a humanity beyond and below the reigning civilization"The Nobel Prize in Literature 2007 Doris Lessing"that epicist of the female experience, who with scepticism, fire and visionary power has subjected a divided civilisation to scrutiny"The Nobel Prize in Literature 2006 Orhan Pamuk"who in the quest for the melancholic soul of his native city has discovered new symbols for the clash and interlacing of cultures"The Nobel Prize in Literature 2005 Harold Pinter"who in his plays uncovers the precipice under everyday prattle and forces entry into oppression's closed rooms"The Nobel Prize in Literature 2004 Elfriede Jelinek"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"The Nobel Prize in Literature 2003 John M. Coetzee"who in innumerable guises portrays the surprising involvementof the outsider"The Nobel Prize in Literature 2002 Imre Kertész"for writing that upholds the fragile experience of the individual againstthe barbaric arbitrariness of history"The Nobel Prize in Literature 2001Sir Vidiadhar Surajprasad Naipaul"for having united perceptive narrative and incorruptible scrutiny in works that compel us to see the presence of suppressed histories"The Nobel Prize in Literature 2000 Gao Xingjian"for an æuvre of universal validity, bitter insights and linguistic ingenuity, which has opened new paths for the Chinese novel and drama"The Nobel Prize in Literature 1999 Günter Grass"whose frolicsome black fables portray the forgotten face of history"The Nobel Prize in Literature 1998José Saramago"who with parables sustained by imagination, compassion and irony continually enables us once again to apprehend an elusory reality"The Nobel Prize in Literature 1997Dario Fo"who emulates the jesters of the Middle Ages in scourging authority and upholding the dignity of the downtrodden"The Nobel Prize in Literature 1996Wislawa Szymborska"for poetry that with ironic precision allows the historical and biological context to come to light in fragments of human reality"The Nobel Prize in Literature 1995Seamus Heaney"for works of lyrical beauty and ethical depth, which exalt everyday miracles and the living past"The Nobel Prize in Literature 1994Kenzaburo Oe"who with poetic force creates an imagined world, where life and myth condense to form a disconcerting picture of the human predicament today"The Nobel Prize in Literature 1993Toni Morrison"who in novels characterized by visionary force and poetic import, gives life to an essential aspect of American reality"The Nobel Prize in Literature 1992Derek Walcott"for a poetic oeuvre of great luminosity, sustained by a historicalvision, the outcome of a multicultural commitment"The Nobel Prize in Literature 1991Nadine Gordimer"who through her magnificent epic writing has - in the words of Alfred Nobel - been of very great benefit to humanity"The Nobel Prize in Literature 1990Octavio Paz"for impassioned writing with wide horizons, characterized by sensuous intelligence and humanistic integrity"The Nobel Prize in Literature 1989Camilo José Cela"for a rich and intensive prose, which with restrained compassion forms a challenging vision of man'svulnerability"The Nobel Prize in Literature 1988Naguib Mahfouz"who, through works rich in nuance - now clear-sightedly realistic, now evocatively ambiguous - has formed an Arabian narrative art that applies to all mankind"The Nobel Prize in Literature 1987Joseph Brodsky"for an all-embracing authorship, imbued with clarity of thought and poetic intensity"The Nobel Prize in Literature 1986Wole Soyinka"who in a wide cultural perspective and with poetic overtones fashionsthe drama of existence"The Nobel Prize in Literature 1985Claude Simon"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"The Nobel Prize in Literature 1984Jaroslav Seifert"for his poetry which endowed with freshness, sensuality and rich inventiveness provides a liberating image of the indomitable spirit and versatility of man"The Nobel Prize in Literature 1983William Golding"for his novels which, with the perspicuity of realistic narrative art and the diversity and universality ofmyth, illuminate the human condition in the world of today"The Nobel Prize in Literature 1982Gabriel García Márquez"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"The Nobel Prize in Literature 1981Elias Canetti"for writings marked by a broad outlook, a wealth of ideas and artistic power"The Nobel Prize in Literature 1980Czeslaw Milosz"who with uncompromising clear-sightedness voices man's exposed condition in a world of severe conflicts"The Nobel Prize in Literature 1979Odysseus Elytis"for his poetry, which, against the background of Greek tradition, depicts with sensuous strength andintellectual clear-sightedness modern man's struggle for freedomand creativeness"The Nobel Prize in Literature 1978Isaac Bashevis Singer"for his impassioned narrative art which, with roots in a Polish-Jewishcultural tradition, brings universal human conditions to life"The Nobel Prize in Literature 1977Vicente Aleixandre"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"The Nobel Prize in Literature 1976Saul Bellow"for the human understanding and subtle analysis of contemporary culture that are combined in his work"The Nobel Prize in Literature 1975Eugenio Montale"for his distinctive poetry which, with great artistic sensitivity, has interpreted human values under thesign of an outlook on life with no illusions"The Nobel Prize in Literature 1974Eyvind Johnson"for a narrative art, far-seeing in lands and ages, in the service of freedom"Harry Martinson"for writings that catch the dewdrop and reflect the cosmos"The Nobel Prize in Literature 1973Patrick White"for an epic and psychological narrative art which has introduced a new continent into literature"The Nobel Prize in Literature 1972Heinrich Böll"for his writing which through its combination of a broad perspectiveon his time and a sensitive skill in characterization has contributed toa renewal of German literature"The Nobel Prize in Literature 1971Pablo Neruda"for a poetry that with the action of an elemental force brings alive a continent's destiny and dreams"The Nobel Prize in Literature 1970Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn"for the ethical force with which he has pursued the indispensable traditions of Russian literature"The Nobel Prize in Literature 1969Samuel Beckett"for his writing, which - in new forms for the novel and drama - in the destitution of modern man acquires its elevation"The Nobel Prize in Literature 1968Yasunari Kawabata"for his narrative mastery, which with great sensibility expresses the essence of the Japanese mind"The Nobel Prize in Literature 1967Miguel Angel Asturias"for his vivid literary achievement, deep-rooted in the national traits and traditions of Indian peoples of Latin America"The Nobel Prize in Literature 1966Shmuel Yosef Agnon"for his profoundly characteristic narrative art with motifs from the life of the Jewish people"Nelly Sachs"for her outstanding lyrical and dramatic writing, which interprets Israel's destiny with touching strength"The Nobel Prize in Literature 1965Mikhail Aleksandrovich Sholokhov"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"The Nobel Prize in Literature 1964Jean-Paul Sartre"for his work which, rich in ideas and filled with the spirit of freedomand the quest for truth, has exerteda far-reaching influence on our age"The Nobel Prize in Literature 1963Giorgos Seferis"for his eminent lyrical writing, inspired by a deep feeling for the Hellenic world of culture"The Nobel Prize in Literature 1962John Steinbeck"for his realistic and imaginative writings, combining as they do sympathetic humour and keen social perception"The Nobel Prize in Literature 1961Ivo Andric"for the epic force with which he has traced themes and depicted human destinies drawn from the history of his country"The Nobel Prize in Literature 1960Saint-John Perse"for the soaring flight and the evocative imagery of his poetry which in a visionary fashion reflects the conditions of our time"The Nobel Prize in Literature 1959Salvatore Quasimodo"for his lyrical poetry, which with classical fire expresses the tragic experience of life in our own times"The Nobel Prize in Literature 1958Boris Leonidovich Pasternak"for his important achievement both in contemporary lyrical poetry and in the field of the great Russianepic tradition"The Nobel Prize in Literature 1957Albert Camus"for his important literary production, which with clear-sighted earnestness illuminates theproblems of the human consciencein our times"The Nobel Prize in Literature 1956Juan Ramón Jiménez"for his lyrical poetry, which in Spanish language constitutes an example of high spirit and artisticalpurity"The Nobel Prize in Literature 1955Halldór Kiljan Laxness"for his vivid epic power which has renewed the great narrative art of Iceland"The Nobel Prize in Literature 1954Ernest Miller Hemingway"for his mastery of the art of narrative, most recently demonstrated inThe Old Man and the Sea,and for the influence that he has exerted on contemporary style"The Nobel Prize in Literature 1953Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill"for his mastery of historical and biographical description as well as for brilliant oratory in defending exalted human values"The Nobel Prize in Literature 1952François Mauriac"for the deep spiritual insight and the artistic intensity with which he has in his novels penetrated the drama of human life"The Nobel Prize in Literature 1951Pär Fabian Lagerkvist"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"The Nobel Prize in Literature 1950Earl (Bertrand Arthur William) Russell"in recognition of his varied and significant writings in which he champions humanitarian ideals and freedom of thought"The Nobel Prize in Literature 1949William Faulkner"for his powerful and artistically unique contribution to the modern American novel"The Nobel Prize in Literature 1948Thomas Stearns Eliot"for his outstanding, pioneer contribution to present-day poetry"The Nobel Prize in Literature 1947André Paul Guillaume Gide"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"The Nobel Prize in Literature 1946Hermann Hesse"for his inspired writings which, while growing in boldness and penetration, exemplify the classicalhumanitarian ideals and high qualities of style"The Nobel Prize in Literature 1945Gabriela Mistral"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"The Nobel Prize in Literature 1944Johannes Vilhelm Jensen"for the rare strength and fertility ofhis poetic imagination with which is combined an intellectual curiosity of wide scope and a bold, freshly creative style"The Nobel Prize in Literature 1943No Nobel Prize was awarded this year. The prize money was with 1/3allocated to the Main Fund and with 2/3 to the Special Fund of this prize section.The Nobel Prize in Literature 1942No Nobel Prize was awarded this year. The prize money was with 1/3allocated to the Main Fund and with 2/3 to the Special Fund of this prize section.The Nobel Prize in Literature 1941No Nobel Prize was awarded this year. The prize money was with 1/3allocated to the Main Fund and with 2/3 to the Special Fund of this prize section.The Nobel Prize in Literature 1940No Nobel Prize was awarded this year. The prize money was with 1/3allocated to the Main Fund and with 2/3 to the Special Fund of this prize section.The Nobel Prize in Literature 1939Frans Eemil Sillanpää"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"The Nobel Prize in Literature 1938Pearl Buck"for her rich and truly epic descriptions of peasant life in China and for her biographical masterpieces"The Nobel Prize in Literature 1937Roger Martin du Gard"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-cycleLes Thibault"The Nobel Prize in Literature 1936Eugene Gladstone O'Neill"for the power, honesty and deep-felt emotions of his dramatic works, which embody an original concept of tragedy"The Nobel Prize in Literature 1935No Nobel Prize was awarded this year. The prize money was with 1/3allocated to the Main Fund and with 2/3 to the Special Fund of this prize section.The Nobel Prize in Literature 1934Luigi Pirandello"for his bold and ingenious revival of dramatic and scenic art"The Nobel Prize in Literature 1933Ivan Alekseyevich Bunin"for the strict artistry with which he has carried on the classical Russian traditions in prose writing"The Nobel Prize in Literature 1932John Galsworthy"for his distinguished art of narration which takes its highest form inThe Forsyte Saga"The Nobel Prize in Literature 1931Erik Axel Karlfeldt"The poetry of Erik Axel Karlfeldt"The Nobel Prize in Literature 1930Sinclair Lewis"for his vigorous and graphic art of description and his ability to create,with wit and humour, new types of characters"The Nobel Prize in Literature 1929Thomas Mann"principally for his great novel,Buddenbrooks, which has won steadily increased recognition as one of the classic works of contemporary literature"The Nobel Prize in Literature 1928Sigrid Undset"principally for her powerful descriptions of Northern life during the Middle Ages"The Nobel Prize in Literature 1927Henri Bergson"in recognition of his rich and vitalizing ideas and the brilliant skillwith which they have been presented"The Nobel Prize in Literature 1926Grazia Deledda"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"The Nobel Prize in Literature 1925George Bernard Shaw"for his work which is marked by both idealism and humanity, its stimulating satire often being infused with a singular poetic beauty"The Nobel Prize in Literature 1924Wladyslaw Stanislaw Reymont"for his great national epic,The Peasants"The Nobel Prize in Literature 1923William Butler Yeats"for his always inspired poetry, which in a highly artistic form givesexpression to the spirit of a whole nation"The Nobel Prize in Literature 1922Jacinto Benavente"for the happy manner in which he has continued the illustrious traditions of the Spanish drama"The Nobel Prize in Literature 1921Anatole France"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"The Nobel Prize in Literature 1920Knut Pedersen Hamsun"for his monumental work,Growth of the Soil"The Nobel Prize in Literature 1919Carl Friedrich Georg Spitteler"in special appreciation of his epic,Olympian Spring"The Nobel Prize in Literature 1918No Nobel Prize was awarded this year. The prize money was allocated to the Special Fund of this prize section.The Nobel Prize in Literature 1917Karl Adolph Gjellerup"for his varied and rich poetry, which is inspired by lofty ideals"Henrik Pontoppidan"for his authentic descriptions of present-day life in Denmark"The Nobel Prize in Literature 1916Carl Gustaf Verner von Heidenstam"in recognition of his significance as the leading representative of a new era in our literature"The Nobel Prize in Literature 1915Romain Rolland"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"The Nobel Prize in Literature 1914No Nobel Prize was awarded this year. The prize money was allocated to the Special Fund of this prize section.The Nobel Prize in Literature 1913Rabindranath Tagore"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 theWest"The Nobel Prize in Literature 1912Gerhart Johann Robert Hauptmann"primarily in recognition of his fruitful, varied and outstanding production in the realm of dramaticart"The Nobel Prize in Literature 1911Count Maurice (Mooris) Polidore Marie Bernhard Maeterlinck"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"The Nobel Prize in Literature 1910Paul Johann Ludwig Heyse"as a tribute to the consummate artistry, permeated with idealism, which he has demonstrated during his long productive career as a lyricpoet, dramatist, novelist and writer of world-renowned short stories"The Nobel Prize in Literature 1909Selma Ottilia Lovisa Lagerlöf"in appreciation of the lofty idealism, vivid imagination and spiritual perception that characterize her writings"The Nobel Prize in Literature 1908Rudolf Christoph Eucken"in recognition of his earnest search for truth, his penetrating power of thought, his wide range ofvision, and the warmth and strength in presentation with which in his numerous works he has vindicated and developed an idealistic philosophy of life"The Nobel Prize in Literature 1907Rudyard Kipling"in consideration of the power of observation, originality of imagination, virility of ideas and remarkable talent for narration which characterize the creations ofthis world-famous author"The Nobel Prize in Literature 1906Giosuè Carducci"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 characterizehis poetic masterpieces"The Nobel Prize in Literature 1905Henryk Sienkiewicz"because of his outstanding merits as an epic writer"The Nobel Prize in Literature 1904Frédéric Mistral"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"José Echegaray y Eizaguirre"in recognition of the numerous and brilliant compositions which, inan individual and original manner, have revived the great traditions of the Spanish drama"The Nobel Prize in Literature 1903Bjørnstjerne Martinus Bjørnson"as a tribute to his noble, magnificent and versatile poetry, which has always been distinguished by both the freshnessof its inspiration and the rare purity of its spirit"The Nobel Prize in Literature 1902 Christian Matthias Theodor Mommsen"the greatest living master of the art of historical writing, with specialreference to his monumental work,A history of Rome"The Nobel Prize in Literature 1901Sully Prudhomme"in special recognition of his poeticcomposition, which gives evidence of lofty idealism, artistic perfection and a rare combination of the qualities of both heart and intellect".