The Nobel Prize in literature is one of the most important hallmarks in the field of literature. Here’s a list of Nobel laureates in literature from 1901 to 2015.
Did you know…
… that the Swedish Academy, one of the Royal Academies of Sweden, established in 1786 by King Gustav III, makes an annual decision about the nominee, who would be awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.
The Nobel Prize in Literature is given each year to an author(s), who has made an outstanding contribution to the field of literature, irrespective of which country he/she belongs to or what genre he/she writes in. This honor is conferred to literary geniuses from all across the world since the year 1901, and is considered as the most prestigious of all literary honors. The Nobel Prize in Literature is one of the five Nobel Prizes, which are given out in accordance to the will of Alfred Bernhard Nobel, a Swedish engineer, chemist, and manufacturer; the other four are awarded in Physics, Chemistry, Peace, and Medicine.
With respect to the Nobel Prize in Literature, Alfred Nobel said in his will that it will be given, “in the field of literature to the most outstanding work in an ideal direction”. Interestingly, this award is based, not on the individual works of an author, but his/her overall contribution to the field. The Swedish Academy, which is in charge of deciding who, if anyone, would receive the prize in that particular year, usually declares the name of the laureate in early October. Each awardee receives a medal, a diploma, and a monetary prize, however, the amount has differed over the years. From 1901 to 2015, 112 authors from around the globe have been conferred by this honor, out of which 12 are women. We have enlisted, here, the people who have won this honor till 2015, along with what the Nobel committee had to say about their choice.
1901 Sully Prudhomme
France
Language: French
Genre: Essay, poetry
“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”
1902 Christian Matthias Theodor Mommsen
Germany
Language: German
Genre: History, law
“the greatest living master of the art of historical writing, with special reference to his monumental work, A History of Rome“
1903 Bjørnstjerne Martinius Bjørnson
Norway
Language: Norwegian
Genre: Drama, novel, poetry
“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”
1904 José Echegaray y Eizaguirre
Spain
Language: Spanish
Genre: Drama
“in recognition of the numerous and brilliant compositions which, in an individual and original manner, have revived the great traditions of the Spanish drama”
Frédéric Mistral
France
Language: Occitan
Genre: Philology, poetry
“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”
1905 Henryk Sienkiewicz
Poland
Language: Polish
Genre: Novel
“because of his outstanding merits as an epic writer”
1906 Giosuè Carducci
Language: Italian
Genre: Poetry
“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”
1907 Rudyard Kipling
United Kingdom
Language: English
Genre: Novel, poetry, short story
“in consideration of the power of observation, originality of imagination, virility of ideas and remarkable talent for narration which characterize the creations of this world-famous author”
1908 Rudolf Christoph Eucken
Germany
Language: German
Genre: Philosophy
“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”
1909 Selma Ottilia Lovisa Lagerlöf
Sweden
Language: Swedish
Genre: Novel, short story
“in appreciation of the lofty idealism, vivid imagination and spiritual perception that characterize her writings”
1910 Paul Johann Ludwig Heyse
Germany
Language: German
Genre: Drama, novel. poetry, short story
“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”
1911 Count Maurice (Mooris) Polidore Marie Bernhard Maeterlinck
Belgium
Language: French
Genre: Drama, essay, poetry
“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”
1912 Gerhart Johann Robert Hauptmann
Germany
Language: German
Genre: Drama, novel
“primarily in recognition of his fruitful, varied and outstanding production in the realm of dramatic art”
1913 Rabindranath Tagore
Language: Bengali
Genre: Drama, music, novel, poetry, short story
“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”
1914 No Nobel Prize Awarded in Literature Category
1915 Romain Rolland
France
Language: French
Genre: Novel
“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”
1916 Carl Gustaf Verner von Heidenstam
Sweden
Language: Swedish
Genre: Novel, poetry
“in recognition of his significance as the leading representative of a new era in our literature”
1917 Karl Adolph Gjellerup
Denmark
Language: Danish
Genre: Poetry
“for his varied and rich poetry, which is inspired by lofty ideals”
Henrik Pontoppidan
Denmark
Language: Danish
Genre: Novel
“for his authentic descriptions of present-day life in Denmark”
1918 No Nobel Prize Awarded in Literature Category
1919 Carl Friedrich Georg Spitteler
Switzerland
Language: German
Genre: Poetry
“in special appreciation of his epic, Olympian Spring“
1920 Knut Pedersen Hamsun
Norway
Language: Norwegian
Genre: Novel
“for his monumental work, Growth of the Soil“
1921 Anatole France
France
Language: French
Genre: Novel, poetry
“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”
1922 Jacinto Benavente
Spain
Language: Sapnish
Genre: Drama
“for the happy manner in which he has continued the illustrious traditions of the Spanish drama”
1923 William Butler Yeats
Ireland
Language: English
Genre: Poetry
“for his always inspired poetry, which in a highly artistic form gives expression to the spirit of a whole nation”
1924 Władysław Stanisław Reymont
Poland
Language: Polish
Genre: Novel
“for his great national epic, The Peasants“
1925 George Bernard Shaw
Ireland
Language: English
Genre: Drama, literary criticism
“for his work which is marked by both idealism and humanity, its stimulating satire often being infused with a singular poetic beauty”
1926 Grazia Deledda
Italy
Language: Italian
Genre: Novel, poetry
“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”
1927 Henri Bergson
France
Language: French
Genre: Philosophy
“in recognition of his rich and vitalizing ideas and the brilliant skill with which they have been presented”
1928 Sigrid Undset
Norway
Language: Norwegian
Genre: Novel
“principally for her powerful descriptions of Northern life during the Middle Ages”
1929 Thomas Mann
Germany
Language: German
Genre: Essay, novel, short story
“principally for his great novel, Buddenbrooks, which has won steadily increased recognition as one of the classic works of contemporary literature”
1930 Sinclair Lewis
United States
Language: English
Genre: Drama, novel, short story
“for his vigorous and graphic art of description and his ability to create, with wit and humour, new types of characters”
1931 Erik Axel Karlfeldt
Sweden
Language: Swedish
Genre: Poetry
“The poetry of Erik Axel Karlfeldt”
1932 John Galsworthy
United Kingdom
Language: English
Genre: Novel
“for his distinguished art of narration which takes its highest form in The Forsyte Saga“
1933 Ivan Alekseyevich Bunin
Russia
Language: Russian
Genre: Novel, poetry, short story
“for the strict artistry with which he has carried on the classical Russian traditions in prose writing”
1934 Luigi Pirandello
Italy
Language: Italian
Genre: Drama, novel, short story
“for his bold and ingenious revival of dramatic and scenic art”
1935 No Nobel Prize Awarded in Literature Category
1936 Eugene Gladstone O’Neill
United States
Language: English
Genre: Drama
“for the power, honesty and deep-felt emotions of his dramatic works, which embody an original concept of tragedy”
1937 Roger Martin du Gard
France
Language: French
Genre: Novel
“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“
1938 Pearl Buck
United States
Language: English
Genre: Novel
“for her rich and truly epic descriptions of peasant life in China and for her biographical masterpieces”
1939 Frans Eemil Sillanpää
Finland
Language: Finnish
Genre: Novel
“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”
1940 No Nobel Prize Awarded in Literature Category
1941 No Nobel Prize Awarded in Literature Category
1942 No Nobel Prize Awarded in Literature Category
1943 No Nobel Prize Awarded in Literature Category
1944 Johannes Vilhelm Jensen
Denmark
Language: Danish
Genre: Poetry
“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”
1945 Gabriela Mistral
Chile
Language: Spanish
Genre: Poetry
“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”
1946 Hermann Hesse
Switzerland
Language: German
Genre: Novel, poetry
“for his inspired writings which, while growing in boldness and penetration, exemplify the classical humanitarian ideals and high qualities of style”
1947 André Paul Guillaume Gide
France
Language: French
Genre: Essay, novel
“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”
1948 Thomas Stearns Eliot
United Kingdom
Language: English
Genre: Poetry
“for his outstanding, pioneer contribution to present-day poetry”
1949 William Faulkner
United States
Language: English
Genre: Novel, short story
“for his powerful and artistically unique contribution to the modern American novel”
1950 Earl (Bertrand Arthur William) Russell
United Kingdom
Language: English
Genre: Philosophy
“in recognition of his varied and significant writings in which he champions humanitarian ideals and freedom of thought”
1951 Pär Fabian Lagerkvist
Sweden
Language: Swedish
Genre: Drama, novel, poetry, short story
“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”
1952 François Mauriac
France
Language: French
Genre: Novel, short story
“for the deep spiritual insight and the artistic intensity with which he has in his novels penetrated the drama of human life”
1953 Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill
United Kingdom
Language: English
Genre: Essay, history, memoirs
“for his mastery of historical and biographical description as well as for brilliant oratory in defending exalted human values”
1954 Ernest Miller Hemingway
United States
Language: English
Genre: Novel, screenplay, short story
“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”
1955 Halldór Kiljan Laxness
Iceland
Language: Icelandic
Genre: Drama, novel, poetry, short story
“for his vivid epic power which has renewed the great narrative art of Iceland”
1956 Juan Ramón Jiménez
Spain
Language: Spanish
Genre: Poetry
“for his lyrical poetry, which in Spanish language constitutes an example of high spirit and artistical purity”
1957 Albert Camus
France
Language: French
Genre: Drama, essay, novel, philosophy, short story
“for his important literary production, which with clear-sighted earnestness illuminates the problems of the human conscience in our times”
1958 Boris Leonidovich Pasternak
Soviet Union
Language: Russia
Genre: Novel, poetry, translation
“for his important achievement both in contemporary lyrical poetry and in the field of the great Russian epic tradition”
1960 Saint-John Perse
France
Language: French
Genre: Poetry
“for the soaring flight and the evocative imagery of his poetry which in a visionary fashion reflects the conditions of our time”
1961 Ivo Andrić
Yugoslavia
Language: Serbian
Genre: Novel, short story
“for the epic force with which he has traced themes and depicted human destinies drawn from the history of his country”
1962 John Ernst Steinbeck
United States
Language: English
Genre: Novel, screenplay, short story
“for his realistic and imaginative writings, combining as they do sympathetic humour and keen social perception”
1963 Giorgos Seferis
Greece
Language: Greek
Genre: Poetry
“for his eminent lyrical writing, inspired by a deep feeling for the Hellenic world of culture”
1964 Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre
France
Language: French
Genre: Drama, literary criticism, novel, philosophy, screenplay
“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”
1965 Mikhail Aleksandrovich Sholokhov
Soviet Union
Language: Russian
Genre: Novel
“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”
1966 Nelly Sachs
Germany
Language: German
Genre: Poetry, drama
“for her outstanding lyrical and dramatic writing, which interprets Israel’s destiny with touching strength”
Shmuel Yosef Agnon
Israel
Language: Hebrew
Genre: Novel, short story
“for his profoundly characteristic narrative art with motifs from the life of the Jewish people”
1967 Miguel Angel Asturias Rosales
Guatemala
Language: Spanish
Genre: Novel, poetry
“for his vivid literary achievement, deep-rooted in the national traits and traditions of Indian peoples of Latin America”
1968 Yasunari Kawabata
Japan
Language: Japanese
Genre: Novel, short story
“for his narrative mastery, which with great sensibility expresses the essence of the Japanese mind”
1969 Samuel Barclay Beckett
Ireland
Language: English, French
Genre: Drama, novel, poetry
“for his writing, which – in new forms for the novel and drama – in the destitution of modern man acquires its elevation”
1970 Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn
Russia
Language: Russian
Genre: Novel
“for the ethical force with which he has pursued the indispensable traditions of Russian literature”
1971 Pablo Neruda
Chile
Language: Spanish
Genre: Poetry
“for a poetry that with the action of an elemental force brings alive a continent’s destiny and dreams”
1972 Heinrich Theodor Böll
Germany
Language: German
Genre: Novel, short story
“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”
1973 Patrick Victor Martindale White
Australia
Language: English
Genre: Drama, novel, short story
“for an epic and psychological narrative art which has introduced a new continent into literature”
1974 Harry Martinson
Sweden
Language: Swedish
Genre: Drama, novel, poetry
“for writings that catch the dewdrop and reflect the cosmos”
Eyvind Johnson
Sweden
Language: Swedish
Genre: Novel
“for a narrative art, far-seeing in lands and ages, in the service of freedom”
1975 Eugenio Montale
Language: Italian
Genre: Poetry
“for his distinctive poetry which, with great artistic sensitivity, has interpreted human values under the sign of an outlook on life with no illusions”
1976 Saul Bellow
United States
Language: English
Genre: Novel, short story
“for the human understanding and subtle analysis of contemporary culture that are combined in his work”
1977 Vicente Pío Marcelino Cirilo Aleixandre y Merlo
Spain
Language: Spanish
Genre: Poetry
“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”
1978 Isaac Bashevis Singer
United States
Language: Yiddish
Genre: Memoir, novel, short story
“for his impassioned narrative art which, with roots in a Polish-Jewish cultural tradition, brings universal human conditions to life”
1979 Odysseus Elytis
Greece
Language: Greek
Genre: Poetry
“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”
1980 Czesław Miłosz
Poland
Language: Polish
Genre: Essay, poetry
“who with uncompromising clear-sightedness voices man’s exposed condition in a world of severe conflicts”
1981 Elias Canetti
Bulgaria
Language: German
Genre: Drama, essay, memoirs, novel
“for writings marked by a broad outlook, a wealth of ideas and artistic power”
1982 Gabriel García Márquez
Colombia
Language: Spanish
Genre: Novel, screenplay, short story
“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”
1983 William Gerald Golding
United Kingdom
Language: English
Genre: Drama, poetry, novel
“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”
1984 Jaroslav Seifert
Czechoslovakia
Language: Czech
Genre: Poetry
“for his poetry which endowed with freshness, sensuality and rich inventiveness provides a liberating image of the indomitable spirit and versatility of man”
1985 Claude Simon
France
Language: French
Genre: Novel
“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”
1986 Akinwande Oluwole “Wole” Soyinka
Nigeria
Language: English
Genre: Drama, novel, poetry
“who in a wide cultural perspective and with poetic overtones fashions the drama of existence”
1987 Joseph Brodsky
Soviet Union
Language: Russian, English
Genre: Poetry
“for an all-embracing authorship, imbued with clarity of thought and poetic intensity”
1988 Naguib Mahfouz
Egypt
Language: Arabic
Genre: Novel
“who, through works rich in nuance – now clear-sightedly realistic, now evocatively ambiguous – has formed an Arabian narrative art that applies to all mankind”
1989 Camilo José Cela y Trulock
Spain
Language: Spanish
Genre: Novel, short story
“for a rich and intensive prose, which with restrained compassion forms a challenging vision of man’s vulnerability”
1990 Octavio Paz Lozano
Mexico
Language: Spanish
Genre: Essay, poetry
“for impassioned writing with wide horizons, characterized by sensuous intelligence and humanistic integrity”
1991 Nadine Gordimer
South Africa
Language: English
Genre: Essay, novel, short story
“who through her magnificent epic writing has – in the words of Alfred Nobel – been of very great benefit to humanity”
1992 Derek Alton Walcott
Saint Lucia
Language: English
Genre: Poetry
“for a poetic oeuvre of great luminosity, sustained by a historical vision, the outcome of a multicultural commitment”
1993 Toni Morrison
United States
Language: English
Genre: Novel
“who in novels characterized by visionary force and poetic import, gives life to an essential aspect of American reality”
1994 Kenzaburo Oe
Japan
Language: Japanese
Genre: Novel, short story
“who with poetic force creates an imagined world, where life and myth condense to form a disconcerting picture of the human predicament today”
1995 Seamus Heaney
Ireland
Language: English
Genre: Poetry
“for works of lyrical beauty and ethical depth, which exalt everyday miracles and the living past”
1996 Wisława Szymborska-Włodek
Poland
Language: Polish
Genre: Poetry
“for poetry that with ironic precision allows the historical and biological context to come to light in fragments of human reality”
1997 Dario Fo
Language: Italian
Genre: Drama
“who emulates the jesters of the Middle Ages in scourging authority and upholding the dignity of the downtrodden”
1998 José de Sousa Saramago
Portugal
Language: Portuguese
Genre: Drama, novel, poetry
“who with parables sustained by imagination, compassion and irony continually enables us once again to apprehend an elusory reality”
1999 Günter Wilhelm Grass
Germany
Language: German
Genre: Drama, novel, poetry
“whose frolicsome black fables portray the forgotten face of history”
2000 Gao Xingjian
China
Language: Chinese
Genre: Drama, literary criticism, novel
“for an oeuvre of universal validity, bitter insights and linguistic ingenuity, which has opened new paths for the Chinese novel and drama”
2001 Sir Vidiadhar Surajprasad Naipaul
United Kingdom
Language: English
Genre: Essay, novel
“for having united perceptive narrative and incorruptible scrutiny in works that compel us to see the presence of suppressed histories”
2002 Imre Kertész
Hungary
Language: Hungarian
Genre: Novel
“for writing that upholds the fragile experience of the individual against the barbaric arbitrariness of history”
2003 John M. Coetzee
South Africa
Language: English
Genre: Essay, novel, translation
“who in innumerable guises portrays the surprising involvement of the outsider”
2004 Elfriede Jelinek
Austria
Language: German
Genre: Drama, novel
“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”
2005 Harold Pinter
United Kingdom
Language: English
Genre: Drama
“who in his plays uncovers the precipice under everyday prattle and forces entry into oppression’s closed rooms”
2006 Ferit Orhan Pamuk
Turkey
Language: Turkish
Genre: Essay, novel, screenplay
“who in the quest for the melancholic soul of his native city has discovered new symbols for the clash and interlacing of cultures”
2007 Doris May Lessing
United Kingdom
Language: English
Genre: Drama, memoirs, novel, poetry, short story
“that epicist of the female experience, who with scepticism, fire and visionary power has subjected a divided civilisation to scrutiny”
2008 Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clézio
France
Language: French
Genre: Essay, novel, short story, translation
“author of new departures, poetic adventure and sensual ecstasy, explorer of a humanity beyond and below the reigning civilization”
2009 Herta Müller
Germany
Language: German
Genre: Novel, poetry
“who, with the concentration of poetry and the frankness of prose, depicts the landscape of the dispossessed”
2010 Jorge Mario Pedro Vargas Llosa
Language: Spanish
Genre: Drama, essay, novel, short story
“for his cartography of structures of power and his trenchant images of the individual’s resistance, revolt, and defeat”
2011 Tomas Tranströmer
Sweden
Language: Swedish
Genre: Poetry, translation
“because, through his condensed, translucent images, he gives us fresh access to reality”
2012 Mo Yan
China
Language: Chinese
Genre: Novel, short story
“who with hallucinatory realism merges folk tales, history and the contemporary”
2013 Alice Munro
Canada
Language: English
Genre: Short story
“master of the contemporary short story”
2014 Patrick Modiano
France
Language: French
Genre: Journalism, Prose
“for the art of memory with which he has evoked the most ungraspable human destinies and uncovered the life-world of the occupation.”
2015 Svetlana Alexievich
Belarus
Language: Russian
Genre: Journalist and prose writer
“for her polyphonic writings, a monument to suffering and courage in our time”
* Source: nobelprize.org
Despite the fact that the Nobel Prize in literature is one of the topmost honors in the field, it has lately been subject to a lot of criticism. Some critics have questioned the very criteria for choosing the awardees, saying that some of the most famous and well-known authors were never even nominated for the award. There have also been several controversies regarding the involvement of political interests with respect to the nomination process. In spite of all these criticisms and controversies, the award continues to be an important benchmark in the field of literature.
