List of All Nobel Laureates in Literature: Get the PDF Here!

Mahima Chaudhary | Updated: Aug 30, 2022 22:08 IST

Nobel Laureates in Literature: When Swedish inventor Alfred Nobel died in 1896, he left five prizes in his will, one of which is the Nobel Prize in Literature, which is awarded to writers who have produced the most outstanding work in an ideal direction. Nobel’s heirs, however, fought the provisions of the will, and the first awards were not presented for another five years. You will get a list of Nobel Laureates in Literature in this article.

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Discover the writers who have lived up to Nobel’s ideals from 1901 to the present with the list of Nobel Laureates in Literature given here.

Nobel Laureates in Literature 2022

The Nobel Prize in Literature for 2022 has yet to be awarded. The Nobel Laureates in Literature 2022 will be published on 6th of October, 2022 We will update the same here, once it will be announced.

First Nobel Laureates in Literature

Sully Prudhomme

Sully Prudhomme (1839-1907), a French poet and essayist, was the first person to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1901, in particular for his poetic composition, which demonstrates lofty idealism, artistic perfection, and a rare combination of heart and intellect qualities.

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Download List Of Nobel Laureates In Literature PDF

List of Literature Nobel Laureates and Their Works

The table below lists the recipients of the Nobel Prize in Literature.

List Of Nobel Laureates In Literature

Year

Name

Country

Literary Area

1901

Sully Prudhomme

France

Poet

1902

Theodor Mommsen

Germany

Historian

1903

Bjørnstjerne Martinius Bjørnson

Norway

Novelist, Poet, Dramatist

1904

José Echegaray Y Eizaguirre

Spain

Dramatist

Frédéric Mistral

France

Poet

1905

Henryk Sienkiewicz

Poland

Novelist

1906

Giosuè Carducci

Italy

Poet

1907

Rudyard Kipling

U.K.

Poet, Novelist

1908

Rudolf Christoph Eucken

Germany

Philosopher

1909

Selma Lagerlöf

Sweden

Novelist

1910

Paul Johann Ludwig Von Heyse

Germany

Poet, Novelist, Dramatist

1911

Maurice Maeterlinck

Belgium

Dramatist

1912

Gerhart Hauptmann

Germany

Dramatist

1913

Rabindranath Tagore

India

Poet

1915

Romain Rolland

France

Novelist

1916

Verner Von Heidenstam

Sweden

Poet

1917

Karl Gjellerup

Denmark

Novelist

Henrik Pontoppidan

Denmark

Novelist

1918

Erik Axel Karlfeldt (Declined)

Sweden

Poet

1919

Carl Spitteler

Switzerland

Poet, Novelist

1920

Knut Hamsun

Norway

Novelist

1921

Anatole France

France

Novelist

1922

Jacinto Benavente Y Martínez

Spain

Dramatist

1923

William Butler Yeats

Ireland

Poet

1924

Władysław Stanisław Reymont

Poland

Novelist

1925

George Bernard Shaw

Ireland

Dramatist

1926

Grazia Deledda

Italy

Novelist

1927

Henri Bergson

France

Philosopher

1928

Sigrid Undset

Norway

Novelist

1929

Thomas Mann

Germany

Novelist

1930

Sinclair Lewis

U.S.

Novelist

1931

Erik Axel Karlfeldt (Posthumous Award)

Sweden

Poet

1932

John Galsworthy

U.K.

Novelist

1933

Ivan Alekseyevich Bunin

U.S.S.R.

Poet, Novelist

1934

Luigi Pirandello

Italy

Dramatist

1936

Eugene O’neill

U.S.

Dramatist

1937

Roger Martin Du Gard

France

Novelist

1938

Pearl Buck

U.S.

Novelist

1939

Frans Eemil Sillanpää

Finland

Novelist

1944

Johannes V. Jensen

Denmark

Novelist

1945

Gabriela Mistral

Chile

Poet

1946

Hermann Hesse

Switzerland

Novelist

1947

André Gide

France

Novelist, Essayist

1948

T.S. Eliot

U.K.

Poet, Critic

1949

William Faulkner

U.S.

Novelist

1950

Bertrand Russell

U.K.

Philosopher

1951

Pär Lagerkvist

Sweden

Novelist

1952

François Mauriac

France

Poet, Novelist, Dramatist

1953

Sir Winston Churchill

U.K.

Historian, Orator

1954

Ernest Hemingway

U.S.

Novelist

1955

Halldór Laxness

Iceland

Novelist

1956

Juan Ramón Jiménez

Spain

Poet

1957

Albert Camus

France

Novelist, Dramatist

1958

Boris Leonidovich Pasternak (Declined)

U.S.S.R.

Novelist, Poet

1959

Salvatore Quasimodo

Italy

Poet

1960

Saint-John Perse

France

Poet

1961

Ivo Andric

Yugoslavia

Novelist

1962

John Steinbeck

U.S.

Novelist

1963

George Seferis

Greece

Poet

1964

Jean-Paul Sartre (Declined)

France

Philosopher, Dramatist

1965

Mikhail Aleksandrovich Sholokhov

U.S.S.R.

Novelist

1966

S.Y. Agnon

Israel

Novelist

Nelly Sachs

Sweden

Poet

1967

Miguel Ángel Asturias

Guatemala

Novelist

1968

Kawabata Yasunari

Japan

Novelist

1969

Samuel Beckett

Ireland

Novelist, Dramatist

1970

Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn

U.S.S.R.

Novelist

1971

Pablo Neruda

Chile

Poet

1972

Heinrich Böll

West Germany

Novelist

1973

Patrick White

Australia

Novelist

1974

Eyvind Johnson

Sweden

Novelist

Harry Martinson

Sweden

Novelist, Poet

1975

Eugenio Montale

Italy

Poet

1976

Saul Bellow

U.S.

Novelist

1977

Vicente Aleixandre

Spain

Poet

1978

Isaac Bashevis Singer

U.S.

Novelist

1979

Odysseus Elytis

Greece

Poet

1980

Czesław Miłosz

U.S.

Poet

1981

Elias Canetti

Bulgaria

Novelist, Essayist

1982

Gabriel García Márquez

Colombia

Novelist, Journalist, Social Critic

1983

Sir William Golding

U.K.

Novelist

1984

Jaroslav Seifert

Czechoslovakia

Poet

1985

Claude Simon

France

Novelist

1986

Wole Soyinka

Nigeria

Dramatist, Poet

1987

Joseph Brodsky

U.S.

Poet, Essayist

1988

Naguib Mahfouz

Egypt

Novelist

1989

Camilo José Cela

Spain

Novelist

1990

Octavio Paz

Mexico

Poet, Essayist

1991

Nadine Gordimer

South Africa

Novelist

1992

Derek Walcott

Saint Lucia

Poet

1993

Toni Morrison

U.S.

Novelist

1994

Oe Kenzaburo

Japan

Novelist

1995

Seamus Heaney

Ireland

Poet

1996

Wisława Szymborska

Poland

Poet

1997

Dario Fo

Italy

Dramatist, Actor

1998

José Saramago

Portugal

Novelist

1999

Günter Grass

Germany

Novelist

2000

Gao Xingjian

France

Novelist, Dramatist

2001

Sir V.S. Naipaul

Trinidad

Novelist

2002

Imre Kertész

Hungary

Novelist

2003

J.M. Coetzee

South Africa

Novelist

2004

Elfriede Jelinek

Austria

Novelist, Dramatist

2005

Harold Pinter

U.K.

Dramatist

2006

Orhan Pamuk

Turkey

Novelist

2007

Doris Lessing

U.K.

Novelist

2008

Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clézio

France

Novelist, Essayist

2009

Herta Müller

Germany

Novelist

2010

Mario Vargas Llosa

Peru

Novelist, Dramatist

2011

Tomas Tranströmer

Sweden

Poet

2012

Mo Yan

China

Novelist, Short-Story Writer

2013

Alice Munro

Canada

Short-Story Writer

2014

Patrick Modiano

France

Novelist

2015

Svetlana Alexievich

Belarus

Journalist, Prose Writer

2016

Bob Dylan

U.S.

Singer, Songwriter

2017

Kazuo Ishiguro

U.K.

Novelist

2018**

Olga Tokarczuk

Poland

Novelist, Poet, Essayist

2019

Peter Handke

Austria

Novelist, Poet, Essayist, Playwright

2020

Louise Glück

U.S.

Poet

2021

Abdulrazak Gurnah

Tanz.

Novelist

Hope you found this article on Nobel Laureates in Literature helpful. Download the list of Nobel Laureates in Literature given in this article for later use.

Nobel Laureates in Literature FAQ

How many Nobel Prize winners have there been in literature?

Between 1901 and 2021, the Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded 114 times to 118 Nobel laureates.

Who has received the most Nobel Prizes in Literature?

France has the most Nobel Prize recipients in Literature.

Who was the youngest Nobel Laureate in Literature?

Rudyard Kipling was the youngest laureate, at 41 years old when he was honoured in 1907.

Who received the first Nobel Prize in Literature?

Sully Prudhomme was the first person to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature.

Who were the 2022 Nobel Laureates in Literature?

The Nobel Prize in Literature 2022 has not yet been awarded.

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