Beyond forms: On the 2026 Nobel Prize in Literature

Every year, before the announcement of the Nobel Prize in Literature, there is strong speculation among literary critics about the possible contenders. The Swedish Academy, which keeps its nominations secret for 50 years , has often sprung surprises. But this year, it has chosen a bookmaker’s favourite in Anne Carson, the 76-year-old Canadian poet, essayist, translator, and dramatist . It has also kept in tune with its decade-old trend of recognising women writers every two or three years — Carson is the 19th woman among the 123 Nobel laureates in literature . The Academy praised her “bold and inventive oeuvre that, in playful dialogue with the classical tradition, has created new forms for contemporary literature”. Known for continually dismantling the boundaries between poetry, prose, and scholarship, Carson seamlessly brings the classical in conversation with the contemporary and personal, often through strange juxtapositions.