Nobel Prize in Literature

Check all the winners of Nobel Prize in Literature.
Year Winner Winner Work
2013 Alice Munro master of the contemporary short story
2012 Mo Yan who with hallucinatory realism merges folk tales, history and the contemporary
2011 Tomas Tranströmer because, through his condensed, translucent images, he gives us fresh access to reality
2010 Mario Vargas Llosa for his cartography of structures of power and his trenchant images of the individual's resistance, revolt, and defeat
2009 Herta Müller who, with the concentration of poetry and the frankness of prose, depicts the landscape of the dispossessed
2008 Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clézio author of new departures, poetic adventure and sensual ecstasy, explorer of a humanity beyond and below the reigning civilization.
2007 Doris Lessing that epicist of the female experience, who with scepticism, fire and visionary power has subjected a divided civilisation to scrutiny
2006 Orhan Pamuk who in the quest for the melancholic soul of his native city has discovered new symbols for the clash and interlacing of cultures
2005 Harold Pinter who in his plays uncovers the precipice under everyday prattle and forces entry into oppression's closed rooms
2004 Elfriede Jelinek for her musical flow of voices and counter-voices in novels and plays that with extraordinary linguistic zeal reveal the absurdity of society's clichés and their subjugating power
2003 J. M. Coetzee who in innumerable guises portrays the surprising involvement of the outsider
2002 Imre Kertész for writing that upholds the fragile experience of the individual against the barbaric arbitrariness of history
2001 V.S. Naipaul for having united perceptive narrative and incorruptible scrutiny in works that compel us to see the presence of suppressed histories
2000 Gao Xingjian for an æuvre of universal validity, bitter insights and linguistic ingenuity, which has opened new paths for the Chinese novel and drama
1999 Günter Grass whose frolicsome black fables portray the forgotten face of history
1998 José Saramago who with parables sustained by imagination, compassion and irony continually enables us once again to apprehend an elusory reality
1997 Dario Fo who emulates the jesters of the Middle Ages in scourging authority and upholding the dignity of the downtrodden
1996 Wis?awa Szymborska for poetry that with ironic precision allows the historical and biological context to come to light in fragments of human reality
1995 Seamus Heaney for works of lyrical beauty and ethical depth, which exalt everyday miracles and the living past
1994 Kenzabur? ?e who with poetic force creates an imagined world, where life and myth condense to form a disconcerting picture of the human predicament today
1993 Toni Morrison who in novels characterized by visionary force and poetic import, gives life to an essential aspect of American reality
1992 Derek Walcott for a poetic oeuvre of great luminosity, sustained by a historical vision, the outcome of a multicultural commitment
1991 Nadine Gordimer who through her magnificent epic writing has - in the words of Alfred Nobel - been of very great benefit to humanity
1990 Octavio Paz for impassioned writing with wide horizons, characterized by sensuous intelligence and humanistic integrity
1989 Camilo José Cela for a rich and intensive prose, which with restrained compassion forms a challenging vision of man's vulnerability
1988 Naguib Mahfouz who, through works rich in nuance - now clear-sightedly realistic, now evocatively ambiguous - has formed an Arabian narrative art that applies to all mankind
1987 Joseph Brodsky for an all-embracing authorship, imbued with clarity of thought and poetic intensity
1986 Wole Soyinka who in a wide cultural perspective and with poetic overtones fashions the drama of existence
1985 Claude Simon who in his novel combines the poet's and the painter's creativeness with a deepened awareness of time in the depiction of the human condition
1984 Jaroslav Seifert for his poetry which endowed with freshness, sensuality and rich inventiveness provides a liberating image of the indomitable spirit and versatility of man.
1983 William Golding for his novels which, with the perspicuity of realistic narrative art and the diversity and universality of myth, illuminate the human condition in the world of today.
1982 Gabriel García Márquez for his novels and short stories, in which the fantastic and the realistic are combined in a richly composed world of imagination, reflecting a continent's life and conflicts.
1981 Elias Canetti for writings marked by a broad outlook, a wealth of ideas and artistic power.
1980 Czes?aw Mi?osz who with uncompromising clear-sightedness voices man's exposed condition in a world of severe conflicts.
1979 Odysseas Elytis for his poetry, which, against the background of Greek tradition, depicts with sensuous strength and intellectual clear-sightedness modern man's struggle for freedom and creativeness.
1978 Isaac Bashevis Singer for his impassioned narrative art which, with roots in a Polish-Jewish cultural tradition, brings universal human conditions to life
1977 Vicente Aleixandre for a creative poetic writing which illuminates man's condition in the cosmos and in present-day society, at the same time representing the great renewal of the traditions of Spanish poetry between the wars
1976 Saul Bellow for the human understanding and subtle analysis of contemporary culture that are combined in his work
1975 Eugenio Montale for his distinctive poetry which, with great artistic sensitivity, has interpreted human values under the sign of an outlook on life with no illusions
1974 Harry Martinson for writings that catch the dewdrop and reflect the cosmos
1974 Eyvind Johnson for a narrative art, farseeing in lands and ages, in the service of freedom
1973 Patrick White for an epic and psychological narrative art which has introduced a new continent into literature
1972 Heinrich Böll for his writing which through its combination of a broad perspective on his time and a sensitive skill in characterization has contributed to a renewal of German literature
1971 Pablo Neruda for a poetry that with the action of an elemental force brings alive a continent's destiny and dreams
1970 Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn for the ethical force with which he has pursued the indispensable traditions of Russian literature
1969 Samuel Beckett for his writing, which - in new forms for the novel and drama - in the destitution of modern man acquires its elevation
1968 Yasunari Kawabata for his narrative mastery, which with great sensibility expresses the essence of the Japanese mind
1967 Miguel Ángel Asturias for his vivid literary achievement, deep-rooted in the national traits and traditions of Indian peoples of Latin America
1966 Nelly Sachs for her outstanding lyrical and dramatic writing, which interprets Israel's destiny with touching strength
1966 Shmuel Yosef Agnon for his profoundly characteristic narrative art with motifs from the life of the Jewish people
1965 Michail Aleksandrovich Sholokhov for the artistic power and integrity with which, in his epic of the Don, he has given expression to a historic phase in the life of the Russian people
1964 Jean-Paul Sartre for his work which, rich in ideas and filled with the spirit of freedom and the quest for truth, has exerted a far-reaching influence on our age
1963 George Seferis for his eminent lyrical writing, inspired by a deep feeling for the Hellenic world of culture
1962 John Steinbeck for his realistic and imaginative writings, combining as they do sympathetic humour and keen social perception
1961 Ivo Andri? for the epic force with which he has traced themes and depicted human destinies drawn from the history of his country
1960 Saint-John Perse for the soaring flight and the evocative imagery of his poetry which in a visionary fashion reflects the conditions of our time
1959 Salvatore Quasimodo for his lyrical poetry, which with classical fire expresses the tragic experience of life in our own times
1958 Boris Pasternak for his important achievement both in contemporary lyrical poetry and in the field of the great Russian epic tradition
1957 Albert Camus for his important literary production, which with clear-sighted earnestness illuminates the problems of the human conscience in our times
1956 Juan Ramón Jiménez for his lyrical poetry, which in Spanish language constitutes an example of high spirit and artistical purity
1955 Halldór Laxness for his vivid epic power which has renewed the great narrative art of Iceland
1954 Ernest Hemingway for his mastery of the art of narrative, most recently demonstrated in The Old Man and the Sea, and for the influence that he has exerted on contemporary style
1953 Winston Churchill for his mastery of historical and biographical description as well as for brilliant oratory in defending exalted human values.
1952 François Mauriac for the deep spiritual insight and the artistic intensity with which he has in his novels penetrated the drama of human life.
1951 Pär Lagerkvist for the artistic vigour and true independence of mind with which he endeavours in his poetry to find answers to the eternal questions confronting mankind.
1950 Bertrand Russell in recognition of his varied and significant writings in which he champions humanitarian ideals and freedom of thought.
1949 William Faulkner for his powerful and artistically unique contribution to the modern American novel
1948 T. S. Eliot for his outstanding, pioneer contribution to present-day poetry
1947 André Gide for his comprehensive and artistically significant writings, in which human problems and conditions have been presented with a fearless love of truth and keen psychological insight.
1946 Hermann Hesse for his inspired writings which, while growing in boldness and penetration, exemplify the classical humanitarian ideals and high qualities of style
1945 Gabriela Mistral for her lyric poetry which, inspired by powerful emotions, has made her name a symbol of the idealistic aspirations of the entire Latin American world.
1944 Johannes Vilhelm Jensen for the rare strength and fertility of his poetic imagination with which is combined an intellectual curiosity of wide scope and a bold, freshly creative style
1943
1942
1941
1940
1939 Frans Eemil Sillanpää for his deep understanding of his country's peasantry and the exquisite art with which he has portrayed their way of life and their relationship with Nature.
1938 Pearl S. Buck for her rich and truly epic descriptions of peasant life in China and for her biographical masterpieces
1937 Roger Martin du Gard for the artistic power and truth with which he has depicted human conflict as well as some fundamental aspects of contemporary life in his novel-cycle Les Thibault
1936 Eugene O'Neill for the power, honesty and deep-felt emotions of his dramatic works, which embody an original concept of tragedy.
1935
1934 Luigi Pirandello for his bold and ingenious revival of dramatic and scenic art.
1933 Ivan Bunin for the strict artistry with which he has carried on the classical Russian traditions in prose writing
1932 John Galsworthy The Forsyte Saga
(for his distinguished art of narration which takes its highest form in The Forsyte Saga.)
1931 Erik Axel Karlfeldt The poetry of Erik Axel Karlfeldt
1930 Sinclair Lewis for his vigorous and graphic art of description and his ability to create, with wit and humour, new types of characters.
1929 Thomas Mann Buddenbrooks
(principally for his great novel, Buddenbrooks, which has won steadily increased recognition as one of the classic works of contemporary literature)
1928 Sigrid Undset principally for her powerful descriptions of Northern life during the Middle Ages.
1927 Henri Bergson in recognition of his rich and vitalizing ideas and the brillant skill with which they have been presented
1926 Grazia Deledda for her idealistically inspired writings which with plastic clarity picture the life on her native island and with depth and sympathy deal with human problems in general
1925 George Bernard Shaw for his work which is marked by both idealism and humanity, its stimulating satire often being infused with a singular poetic beauty
1924 W?adys?aw Stanis?aw Reymont The Peasants
(for his great national epic, The Peasants.)
1923 William Butler Yeats for his always inspired poetry, which in a highly artistic form gives expression to the spirit of a whole nation
1922 Jacinto Benavente for the happy manner in which he has continued the illustrious traditions of the Spanish drama.
1921 Anatole France in recognition of his brilliant literary achievements, characterized as they are by a nobility of style, a profound human sympathy, grace, and a true Gallic temperament
1920 Knut Hamsun Growth of the Soil
(for his monumental work, Growth of the Soil)
1919 Carl Spitteler Olympic Spring
(in special appreciation of his epic, Olympian Spring.)
1918
1917 Karl Adolph Gjellerup for his varied and rich poetry, which is inspired by lofty ideals
1917 Henrik Pontoppidan for his authentic descriptions of present-day life in Denmark
1916 Verner von Heidenstam in recognition of his significance as the leading representative of a new era in our literature.
1915 Romain Rolland as a tribute to the lofty idealism of his literary production and to the sympathy and love of truth with which he has described different types of human beings
1914
1913 Rabindranath Tagore because of his profoundly sensitive, fresh and beautiful verse, by which, with consummate skill, he has made his poetic thought, expressed in his own English words, a part of the literature of the West
1912 Gerhart Hauptmann primarily in recognition of his fruitful, varied and outstanding production in the realm of dramatic art.
1911 Maurice Maeterlinck in appreciation of his many-sided literary activities, and especially of his dramatic works, which are distinguished by a wealth of imagination and by a poetic fancy, which reveals, sometimes in the guise of a fairy tale, a deep inspiration, while in a mysterious way they appeal to the readers' own feelings and stimulate their imaginations
1910 Paul Heyse as a tribute to the consummate artistry, permeated with idealism, which he has demonstrated during his long productive career as a lyric poet, dramatist, novelist and writer of world-renowned short stories
1909 Selma Lagerlöf in appreciation of the lofty idealism, vivid imagination and spiritual perception that characterize her writings.
1908 Rudolf Christoph Eucken in recognition of his earnest search for truth, his penetrating power of thought, his wide range of vision, and the warmth and strength in presentation with which in his numerous works he has vindicated and developed an idealistic philosophy of life
1907 Rudyard Kipling in consideration of the power of observation, originality of imagination, virility of ideas and remarkable talent for narration which characterize the creations of this world-famous author.
1906 Giosuè Carducci not only in consideration of his deep learning and critical research, but above all as a tribute to the creative energy, freshness of style, and lyrical force which characterize his poetic masterpieces.
1905 Henryk Sienkiewicz because of his outstanding merits as an epic writer
1904 José Echegaray in recognition of the numerous and brilliant compositions which, in an individual and original manner, have revived the great traditions of the Spanish drama
1904 Frédéric Mistral in recognition of the fresh originality and true inspiration of his poetic production, which faithfully reflects the natural scenery and native spirit of his people, and, in addition, his significant work as a Provençal philologist
1903 Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson as a tribute to his noble, magnificent and versatile poetry, which has always been distinguished by both the freshness of its inspiration and the rare purity of its spirit.
1902 Theodor Mommsen A History of Rome
(the greatest living master of the art of historical writing, with special reference to his monumental work, A history of Rome)
1901 Sully Prudhomme in special recognition of his poetic composition, which gives evidence of lofty idealism, artistic perfection and a rare combination of the qualities of both heart and intellect