Canadian poet, essayist and translator Anne Carson has won the 2026 Nobel Prize in Literature for her genre-defying works that bring together classical traditions and contemporary themes.

The Swedish Academy announced the award in Stockholm on Thursday, praising Carson’s distinctive literary style and her ability to move between poetry, essays, fiction and other art forms.

Ingrid Carlberg, permanent secretary of the Swedish Academy, said Carson was in Iceland “listening to the wind” when the academy contacted her about the award. Carson, 76, was reportedly surprised by the news.

Born in Toronto, Carson frequently draws on ancient Greek and Roman literature in her writing. Her notable works include Eros the Bittersweet, which explores desire in ancient Greek literature; the verse novel Autobiography of Red; Men in the Off Hours, which won Canada’s Griffin Prize for poetry in 2001; and Norma Jeane Baker of Troy, which draws parallels between Marilyn Monroe and Helen of Troy.

Carson has also translated several major works of classical Greek literature. Her translations include If Not, Winter, based on fragments of poems by Sappho, as well as Sophocles’ Electra and Antigone and Euripides’ Bakkhai.

Anders Olsson, chair of the Swedish Academy’s literature committee, said Carson’s work brings together a deep interest in language with an ongoing search for new meanings.

Her works combine influences ranging from ancient Greek writers to poets and novelists such as John Keats, Virginia Woolf and Emily Bronte, resulting in what Olsson described as playful and ironic works that cross boundaries between genres and artistic forms.

Carson has taught classics at several universities in North America. She has also lived in Iceland, where she and her husband, Robert Currie, became citizens in 2022.

Her personal experiences have also influenced her writing. In Nox, published in 2010, Carson explored the long absence and eventual death of her brother Michael. Olsson described the work as both literary and sculptural, presenting photographs, letters and other texts in an accordion-style format inside a box.

In 2024, Carson revealed in the London Review of Books that she had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. She wrote about the impact of the illness on her handwriting, describing the loss of her handwriting as particularly distressing.

The Associated Press said its attempts to reach Carson and her literary agent, Nicole Aragi, were unsuccessful immediately after the announcement.

Last year, Hungarian writer László Krasznahorkai won the Nobel Prize in Literature for his surreal and darkly humorous novels.

The Nobel Prizes in medicine, physics and chemistry were announced earlier this week. The Nobel Peace Prize will be announced Friday, while the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences will be announced Monday.

The prize carries a cash award of 12 million Swedish kronor, or about $1.2 million.