Former Princeton assistant professor Anne Carson wins Nobel Prize in Literature

Anne Carson, former 1980s Princeton assistant professor in Classics and renowned poet and essayist, was awarded the 2026 Nobel Prize in Literature on Thursday morning. The award, announced by Permanent Secretary of the Swedish Academy Ingrid Carlberg, honors Carson “for her bold and inventive oeuvre that, in playful dialogue with the classical tradition, has created new forms for contemporary literature.” 

“I had actually been able to reach her just a few minutes ago … She was in Iceland listening to the wind,” Carlberg said during the announcement. “She was taken by surprise, but very happy.” 

Carson is the 119th recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature, and the 19th woman to receive it. Her work primarily focuses on poetry and translation. 

From 1980 to 1987, Carson taught Classics at Princeton as an instructor and later assistant professor, but was not granted tenure at the end of her term. Last year, she returned to Princeton to deliver the Robert Fagles Lecture for Classics in the Contemporary Arts. 

A University spokesperson did not answer multiple calls to confirm the details of her departure from the University.

Born in Toronto in 1950, Carson learned Latin and ancient Greek in her youth. She went on to attend St. Michael’s College at the University of Toronto, where she earned a B.A., M.A., and Doctor of Philosophy, all in Classics. 

One of her poetry books, “Kinds of Water,” was a finalist for the National Book Award and won the National Book Critics Circle Award in 2024. She is widely acclaimed for her essay “The Beauty of the Husband: A Fictional Essay in 29 Tangos,” which won the T.S. Eliot Prize in 2001; her translation of the Oresteia, which won the PEN Award for Poetry in Translation in 2010; and for her poetry collection “Wrong Norma,” which won the National Book Critics Circle Award for Poetry in 2025. 

While the Nobel Prize recognizes Carson broadly for her work, she was specifically praised for her novel “Autobiography of Red: A Novel in Verse” during the prize announcement, which earned a nomination for the National Book Critics Circle Awards in 1999. The novel, according to Anders Olson, Chair of the Nobel Prize Committee for Literature, demonstrates her “extraordinary ability to give the classical literary tradition an intensely contemporary feel, with a keen sensitivity for modern-day idioms and experiences.” 

“Autobiography of Red,” draws from poetic fragments by sixth century B.C. Greek poets to tell the story of the monster Geryon, whom the hero Herakles must kill and take his cattle. In Carson’s work, the two engage in a passionate affair that leaves Geryon heartbroken.  

Following the announcement, Steve Sem-Sandberg, a member of the prize committee, said that “Autobiography of Red” is “this mixture that you, as a young reader, can recognize yourself in this story; but then you get, on top of that also the stories from antiquity.” 

Carson was also recognized for translation by the Nobel Committee. 

“She translates in a very free way,” Sem-Sandberg said. 

Some of Carson’s other awards include the Lannan Literary Award, the Pushcart Prize, the Griffin Poetry Prize, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and the MacArthur Fellowship. She was also the Anna-Maria Kellen Fellow at the American Academy in Berlin.

Carson has previously directed graduate studies at McGill University. She has also taught Classics at Emory University; the University of California, Berkeley; Cornell University; and the University of Michigan.  

Carson has not yet commented publicly on the prize. Her literary agent, Nicole Aragi, could not immediately be reached for comment. 

Luke Grippo is a head News editor for the ‘Prince.’ He is from South Jersey, and typically covers the state of higher education, University affairs, and state politics. He can be reached at luke.grippo[at]dailyprincetonian.com.

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