FULL LIST: 19 women who have won Nobel Prize in Literature since 1901
The 2026 Nobel Prize in Literature has brought the number of women to have received the prestigious award to 19, more than a century after Swedish writer Selma Lagerlöf became the first woman to win it. Canadian poet, essayist and classicist Anne Carson, 76, became the latest woman to join the list after the Swedish Read More:…
Since 1901, the Nobel Prize in Literature has been awarded to 123 individuals, of which 19 recipients have been women. This means that only about 16% of the laureates have been female. Swedish writer Selma Lagerlöf was the first woman to receive the prestigious award in 1909, breaking new ground for women in literature. Over a century later, Canadian poet Anne Carson became the 19th woman to win the prize in 2026.
Carson's award made her the second Canadian female laureate following Alice Munro, who received the honor in 2013. The journey from Lagerlöf's historic victory to Carson's latest recognition has been far from steady, with only 19 women winning the Literature Nobel compared to 104 men. The prize has been interrupted four times due to World Wars, and has also been shared between two laureates four times.
The award has noticed notable patterns, with a long wait of 17 years between the second and third women laureates, and a 25-year gap after Sachs in 1966 before Gordimer won in 1991. The pace of women laureates increased in the 21st century, with awards going to women in 2004, 2007, 2009, 2013, 2015, 2018, 2020, 2022, 2024, and now 2026.
Despite the more recent run, women still make up only 19 of the 123 individual Literature laureates recorded through 2026.
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Also reported by 2 other outlets
- FULL LIST: 19 women who have won Nobel Prize in Literature since 1901 punchng.com
- Five well-known works from Nobel literature prize winner Anne Carson winnipegfreepress.com
