Anne Carson was in Iceland listening to the wind when the Nobel Prize in Literature called

Canadian poet Anne Carson, a 76-year-old classicist and essayist, has been awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature today. The Swedish Academy, which bestows the prestigious honor, cited Carson's "bold and inventive oeuvre" that "brings a modern twist to mysticism and antiquity" in her works on love, desire, and despair.

The permanent secretary of the Swedish Academy, Ingrid Carlberg, had a brief conversation with Carson, who revealed she was currently in Iceland, where she was "listening to the wind." The Academy described Carson's literary output as centered around the "intersection between the philologist’s obsession with words and the poet’s desire for new meaning." They specifically praised her poem Nox, printed on one continuous sheet of paper in tribute to her deceased brother.

Carson has been a contender for the Nobel Prize for years, and many literary critics predicted she would receive the award this year due to the Academy's recent shift towards greater diversity. Only 19 women have been honored out of the 122 laureates since the prize's inception in 1901. The scandal that prompted the Academy to replace more than half of its members in 2018 has since been resolved.

The Nobel Prize in Literature comes with a diploma, a gold medal, and a US$1.2 million prize sum. Carson will be awarded the prize by King Carl XVI Gustaf on December 10, the anniversary of Alfred Nobel's death in 1896.