Nobel Prize Winners in Literature List (1901 to 2022)
Information about the Nobel Prize in Literature:
The Nobel Prize is the world's highest award given in the field of literature. The prize has been awarded annually by the Nobel Foundation since 1901 to an author of any country who, according to the will of Sir Alfred Nobel, "has made a significant contribution to the field of literature", although the individual's work is sometimes particularly noteworthy. No, the work here refers solely to the work of the author. It is the Swedish Academy that decides in which year to give this award.
The Academy announces the name of the selected winner in early October. It is one of the five Nobel Prizes that were established in 1895 in the will of Sir Alfred Nobel. Nobel Prizes are also given in the field of chemistry, in the field of physics, in the field of peace, and in the field of medicine and physiology. In the year 2020, New York-born writer Louise Gluck was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature for 2020. She was given the award by The Royal Swedish Academy for her novel "her unmatched poetic voice that beautifully universalises individual existence".
List of Nobel Laureates in Literature:
The year
Winner's name
language/work
Birth place/nation
2022
Annie Arnoux
Annie Arnoux was awarded for "the courage and clinical acuity with which she exposes personal memory, systems and collective sanctions".
French
2021
Abdul Razzaq Gurnah
Abdulrajak Gurnah has been honored for his compassionate portrayal of the effects of colonialism and the condition of refugees in the gap between cultures and continents.
Tanzania
2020
Lewis Gluck
"Given for her unmatched poetic voice that beautifully universalises individual existence"
New York
2019
Peter Handke
Austrian novelist, playwright, translator, poet, film director etc.
Griffen, Austria
2018
Olga Tokariuk
For novel flights
Poland, Central Europe
2017
Kazuo Ishiguro
For the novel The Remains of the Day
Japan
2016
Bob Dylan
American songwriter
America
2015
Svetlana Alexievich
-
Belarus
2014
Patrick Modiano
-
France
2013
Alice Monroe
-
Canada
2012
Mo Yan
Novelist and short story writer
China
2011
Tomas Transtromer
Swedish language, poetry, memoir
Stockholm
2010
Mario Vargas Liosa
litterateur
Peru
2009
Herta Mueller
Poet and essayist
Romania
2008
Jean Marie Gustave Leclezio
French writer
Originally from Mauritius, France
2007
Doris Lessing
English
British
2006
Orhan Pamuk
-
Stockholm
2005
Harald Pinter
-
Stockholm
2004
Elfride Yelinek
-
-
1999
Gunter Grass
German writer
German
1997
Dario Pho
Primarily an artist
Italy
1996
Wislava Simborska
Polish language
Kraków, Poland
1991
Nadine Gordimer
-
South Africa
1990
Octavio Paz
-
-
1987
Joseph Brodsky
-
-
1986
Wole Shoyinka
Africa's first litterateur to be awarded the Nobel Prize
Africa
1982
Gabriel García Márquez
-
Rome and Paris
1981
Elias Caneti
German speaking
England
1980
Cheswav Milosh
Lithuanian language
Poland
1978
Isaac Beshvis Singer
Polish language
Poland
1972
Henry Boll
Spanish language
Argentina
1971
Pablo Neruda
Spanish poet
Argentina
1970
Aleksandr Solshnitsyn
Russian writer
Soviet
1967
Miguel Angel Asturias
Guatemalan poet and novelist
Guatemala
1966
Nelly Saks
-
-
1965
Mikhail Sholokhov
Honored as a Russian novelist
Yhe Soviet Union
1964
Jean Paul Sartre
French philosopher
-
1963
Giorgus Sepharis
Greek poet
Born in smirna
1962
John Steinbeck
American novelist
America
1961
Ivo Andrich
Yugoslav storyteller
Born in Bosnia (Yugoslavia)
1960
Alexis St. Lager
French poet
Born in 'Léger Le Fule' Island (France)
1959
Salvatore Kazimodo
Italian poet and critic
Born in Modica, island of Sicily, (Italy)
1958
Boris Pasternak
Russian poet and storyteller
Russia
1957
Alber Camu
-
-
1956
Juan Ramón Jiménez
Spanish poet
Born in Portorico (USA)
1955
Haldor Kiljan Laxness
Icelandic novelists
Iceland
1954
Ernest Hemingway
American storyteller
Oak Park, Illinois, US
1953
Winston Churchill
Awarded for Memoirs in 6 Volumes of World War II in English
Britain
1952
François Mariac
French novelist, poet and playwright
Bordid, France
1951
Par Lagerquist
Swedish novelist, poet and playwright
Sweden
1950
Bertrand Russell
British philosopher, mathematician and author
Britain
1949
William Faulkner
An American writer and poet
America
1948
TS Eliot
British poet-writer
Born in america
1947
André Jide
French novelist and essayist
France
1946
Hermann Hess
Storyteller and poet
Europe
1945
Gabriela Mistral
Chilean poetess; Awarded for Death Song Poetry
-
1944
Johannes Jensen
Danish novelist, poet, writer
Denmark
1943
Awards not given
-
-
1942
Awards not given
-
-
1941
Awards not given
-
-
1940
Awards not given
-
-
1939
Emile Silampa
Finland's only Nobel Laureate Novelist
Finland
1938
Pearl S Buck
American novelist
Born West Virginia
1937
Rosé Martin du Gar
Awarded for the French novel Le Thibalt
France; Born in Neuilly-Sir-Seine
1936
Eugene O'Neill
American playwright
Born in new york
1935
Award not given
-
-
1934
Luizi Pirandello
Italian storyteller and playwright
Italy
1933
Ivan Bunin
Russian poet and storyteller
Aryol, Varonezh, Russia
1932
John Galzwardi
British English novelist and playwright
England
1931
Eric Axel Karlfelt
Swedish poet
Sweden
1930
Sinclair Lewis
American English writers
Born in Jacques Santer (Minnesota)
1929
Thomas Mann
-
-
1928
Seagrid Underset
Norwegian novelist
Norwegian; Born- in Kalendborg, Denmark
1927
Henri Bergsan
French philosopher
Born in France, Paris
1926
Grazia Deleda
italian novelist
Italy
1925
George Bernard Shaw
English language playwright
Born in Ireland, Dublin
1924
Vladislav Remont
Polish novelist
Poland
1923
William Butler Yeats
Playwright and poet
Ireland
1922
Jacinto Benavente
Spanish playwright
Spain
1921
Anatole France
French storyteller
France
1920
Nat Hamson
Norwegian novelist and playwright
Norwegian
1919
Karl Spiteler
German speaking
Switzerland
1918
Award not given
-
-
1917
Karl Adalf Gelerp + Heinrich Pontopidan
Danish language storyteller and playwright/Danish storyteller