Anne Carson Wins Nobel Prize in Literature

Canadian poet and essayist Anne Carson has been awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. The Swedish Academy announced the prize Thursday in Stockholm, recognizing Carson for her distinctive literary style that merges the classical and the modern.

The Nobel Prize in Literature is one of five Nobel Prizes awarded annually by Nobel Foundation in Stockholm, Sweden, in recognition of academic, cultural and scientific advances. The prizes in physiology or medicine, physics, chemistry, literature, and peace are awarded each year, with the economics prize added in 1968.

Last year, Hungarian writer László Krasznahorkai received the Nobel Prize in Literature. The judges cited his work for upholding the power of art amid “apocalyptic terror,” noting his surreal and anarchic novels that blend a bleak worldview with dark humor.

Science awards were also announced earlier this week. The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded to three scientists for their work on a tool that utilizes light to help understand how the brain functions. The Nobel Prize in Physics recognized a scientist’s research into a rare group of neutrinos. The Nobel Prize in Chemistry honored two scientists for their discoveries regarding mirror images in molecules, a breakthrough that has aided in the development of numerous medications.

The week of Nobel Prize announcements concludes Friday with the Peace Prize. The Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences will be announced on Monday.

This year’s prize money is 12 million Swedish kronor, approximately $1.2 million, to be distributed among the laureates. The Nobel Prizes were first awarded in 1901 to honor the will of Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite.