Nobel Prize in Literature - wikipedia Nobel Prize in Literature One of the five Nobel Prizes established in 1895 by Alfred Nobel Nobel Prize in Literature Announcement of the Nobel Prize laureate in literature, 2008 Awarded for Outstanding contributions in literature Country Sweden Presented by Swedish Academy Reward ( s ) 9 million SEK ( 2017 ) First awarded 1901 Currently held by Kazuo Ishiguro ( 2017 ) Website nobelprize.org ← 2016 The Nobel Prize in Literature ( Swedish : Nobelpriset i litteratur ) is a Swedish literature prize that is awarded annually, since 1901, to an author from any country who has, in the words of the will of Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel, produced `` in the field of literature the most outstanding work in an ideal direction '' ( original Swedish : `` den som inom litteraturen har producerat det mest framstående verket i en idealisk riktning '' ). Though individual works are sometimes cited as being particularly noteworthy, the award is based on an author 's body of work as a whole. The Swedish Academy decides who, if anyone, will receive the prize. The academy announces the name of the laureate in early October. It is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Alfred Nobel in 1895. It will not be awarded in 2018, but two names will be awarded in 2019. Although the Nobel Prize in Literature has become the world 's most prestigious literature prize, the Swedish Academy has attracted significant criticism for its handling of the award. Many authors who have won the prize have fallen into obscurity, while others rejected by the jury remain widely studied and read. The prize has `` become widely seen as a political one -- a peace prize in literary disguise '', whose judges are prejudiced against authors with different political tastes to them. Tim Parks has expressed skepticism that it is possible for `` Swedish professors... ( to ) compar ( e ) a poet from Indonesia, perhaps translated into English with a novelist from Cameroon, perhaps available only in French, and another who writes in Afrikaans but is published in German and Dutch... ''. As of 2016, 16 of the 113 recipients have been of Scandinavian origin. The Academy has often been alleged to be biased towards European, and in particular Swedish, authors. Some, such as Indian academic Sabaree Mitra, have noted that, though the Nobel Prize in Literature is significant and tends to overshadow other awards, it is `` not the only benchmark of literary excellence. '' Nobel 's `` vague '' wording for the criteria for the prize has led to recurrent controversy. In the original Swedish, the word idealisk translates as `` ideal ''. The Nobel Committee 's interpretation has varied over the years. In recent years, this means a kind of idealism championing human rights on a broad scale. Contents 1 Background 2 Nomination and award procedure 3 Prizes 3.1 Nobel Prize Medals 3.2 Nobel Prize Diplomas 4 Laureates 4.1 Potential candidates 5 Criticism 5.1 Controversies about Nobel Laureate selections 5.2 Nationality - based criticism 5.3 Overlooked literary achievements 5.4 Controversies about Swedish Academy board members 5.5 2018 controversy and award cancellation 6 Similar international prizes 7 See also 8 References 9 External links Background In 1901, French poet and essayist Sully Prudhomme ( 1839 -- 1907 ) was the first person to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, `` 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. '' Alfred Nobel stipulated in his last will and testament that his money be used to create a series of prizes for those who confer the `` greatest benefit on mankind '' in physics, chemistry, peace, physiology or medicine, and literature. Though Nobel wrote several wills during his lifetime, the last was written a little over a year before he died, and signed at the Swedish - Norwegian Club in Paris on 27 November 1895. Nobel bequeathed 94 % of his total assets, 31 million Swedish kronor ( US $198 million, € 176 million in 2016 ), to establish and endow the five Nobel Prizes. Due to the level of scepticism surrounding the will, it was not until 26 April 1897 that the Storting ( Norwegian Parliament ) approved it. The executors of his will were Ragnar Sohlman and Rudolf Lilljequist, who formed the Nobel Foundation to take care of Nobel 's fortune and organize the prizes. The members of the Norwegian Nobel Committee that were to award the Peace Prize were appointed shortly after the will was approved. The prize - awarding organisations followed : the Karolinska Institutet on 7 June, the Swedish Academy on 9 June, and the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences on 11 June. The Nobel Foundation then reached an agreement on guidelines for how the Nobel Prize should be awarded. In 1900, the Nobel Foundation 's newly created statutes were promulgated by King Oscar II. According to Nobel 's will, the Royal Swedish Academy was to award the Prize in Literature. Nomination and award procedure Each year, the Swedish Academy sends out requests for nominations of candidates for the Nobel Prize in Literature. Members of the Academy, members of literature academies and societies, professors of literature and language, former Nobel literature laureates, and the presidents of writers ' organizations are all allowed to nominate a candidate. It is not permitted to nominate oneself. Thousands of requests are sent out each year, and as of 2011 about 220 proposals are returned. These proposals must be received by the Academy by 1 February, after which they are examined by the Nobel Committee. By April, the Academy narrows the field to around twenty candidates. By May, a short list of five names is approved by the Committee. The subsequent four months are then spent in reading and reviewing the works of the five candidates. In October, members of the Academy vote and the candidate who receives more than half of the votes is named the Nobel laureate in Literature. No one can get the prize without being on the list at least twice, thus many of the same authors reappear and are reviewed repeatedly over the years. The academy is master of thirteen languages, but when a candidate is shortlisted from an unknown language, they call on translators and oath - sworn experts to provide samples of that writer. Other elements of the process are similar to that of other Nobel Prizes. The judges are composed of an 18 member committee who are elected for life and up until 2018, not technically permitted to leave. On 2 May 2018, the Swedish King amended the rules of the academy and made it possible for members to resign. The new rules also state that a member who has been inactive in the work of the academy for more than two years can be asked to resign. The award is usually announced in October. Sometimes, however, the award has been announced the year after the nominal year, the latest being the 2018 award. In the midst of controversy surrounding claims of sexual assault, conflict of interest, and resignations by officials, on 4 May 2018, the Swedish Academy announced that the 2018 laureate would be announced in 2019 along with the 2019 laureate. Prizes A Literature Nobel Prize laureate earns a gold medal, a diploma bearing a citation, and a sum of money. The amount of money awarded depends on the income of the Nobel Foundation that year. If a prize is awarded to more than one laureate, the money is either split evenly among them or, for three laureates, it may be divided into a half and two quarters. If a prize is awarded jointly to two or more laureates, the money is split among them. The prize money of the Nobel Prize has been fluctuating since its inauguration but as of 2012 it stood at kr 8,000,000 ( about US $ 1,100,000 ), previously it was kr 10,000,000. This was not the first time the prize - amount was decreased -- beginning with a nominal value of kr 150,782 in 1901 ( worth 8,123,951 in 2011 SEK ) the nominal value has been as low as kr 121,333 ( 2,370,660 in 2011 SEK ) in 1945 -- but it has been uphill or stable since then, peaking at an SEK - 2011 value of 11,659,016 in 2001. The laureate is also invited to give a lecture during `` Nobel Week '' in Stockholm ; the highlight is the prize - giving ceremony and banquet on 10 December. It is the richest literary prize in the world by a large margin. Nobel Prize medals The Nobel Prize medals, minted by Myntverket in Sweden and the Mint of Norway since 1902, are registered trademarks of the Nobel Foundation. Each medal features an image of Alfred Nobel in left profile on the obverse ( front side of the medal ). The Nobel Prize medals for Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, and Literature have identical obverses, showing the image of Alfred Nobel and the years of his birth and death ( 1833 -- 1896 ). Nobel 's portrait also appears on the obverse of the Nobel Peace Prize medal and the Medal for the Prize in Economics, but with a slightly different design. The image on the reverse of a medal varies according to the institution awarding the prize. The reverse sides of the Nobel Prize medals for Chemistry and Physics share the same design. The medal for the Nobel Prize in Literature was designed by Erik Lindberg. Nobel Prize Diplomas Nobel laureates receive a Diploma directly from the King of Sweden. Each Diploma is uniquely designed by the prize - awarding institutions for the laureate that receives it. The Diploma contains a picture and text that states the name of the laureate and normally a citation of why they received the prize. Laureates Main article : List of Nobel laureates in Literature Potential candidates Potential recipients of the Nobel Prize in Literature are difficult to predict as nominations are kept secret for fifty years until they are publicly available at The Nomination Database for the Nobel Prize in Literature. Currently, only nominations submitted between 1901 and 1965 are available for public viewing. This secrecy has led to speculation about the next Nobel laureate. What about the rumours circling around the world about certain people being nominated for the Nobel Prize this year ? - Well, either it 's just a rumour, or someone among the invited nominators has leaked information. Since the nominations are kept secret for 50 years, you 'll have to wait until then to find out. -- www.nobelprize.org, in Nomination FAQ -- Frequently Asked Questions about the Nomination and Selection of Nobel Laureates According to Göran Malmqvist of the Swedish Academy, Chinese writer Shen Congwen was to have been awarded the 1988 Nobel Prize in Literature, had he not suddenly died that year. Criticism Controversies about Nobel laureate selections Selma Lagerlöf, the first female writer to be awarded a Nobel Prize in literature, faced major controversies. Illustration from Svenska Dagbladet, 11 December 1909 From 1901 to 1912, the committee, headed by the conservative Carl David af Wirsén, weighed the literary quality of a work against its contribution towards humanity 's struggle ' toward the ideal '. Tolstoy, Ibsen, Zola, and Mark Twain were rejected in favor of authors little read today. During World War I and its immediate aftermath, the committee adopted a policy of neutrality, favouring writers from non-combatant countries. August Strindberg was repeatedly bypassed by the committee, but holds the singular distinction of being awarded an Anti-Nobel Prize, conferred by popular acclaim and national subscription and presented to him in 1912 by future prime minister Hjalmar Branting. James Joyce wrote the books that rank 1st and 3rd on the Modern Library 100 Best Novels -- Ulysses and Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man -- but Joyce never won ; as biographer Gordon Bowker wrote, `` That prize was just out of Joyce 's reach. '' The academy considered Czech writer Karel Čapek 's War with the Newts too offensive to the German government. He also declined to suggest some noncontroversial publication that could be cited as an example of his work, stating `` Thank you for the good will, but I have already written my doctoral dissertation ''. He was thus denied the prize. Spanish playwright Àngel Guimerà, who wrote in the Catalan language was nominated twenty - three times for the Nobel Prize, though he never won, due to controversy about the political significance of the gesture. He was a candidate for the Nobel Prize in 1904, to be shared with the Provençal writer Frédéric Mistral, in recognition of their contributions to literature in non-official languages. Political pressure from Spain 's central government having made this prize impossible, it was eventually awarded to Mistral and to the Spanish language playwright José Echegaray. The choice of Selma Lagerlöf ( Sweden 1858 -- 1940 ) as Nobel Laureate in 1909 ( for the ' lofty idealism, vivid imagination and spiritual perception that characterizes her writings ' ) followed fierce debate because of her writing style and subject matter, which broke literary decorums of the time. According to Swedish Academy archives studied by the newspaper Le Monde on their opening in 2008, French novelist and intellectual André Malraux was seriously considered for the prize in the 1950s. Malraux was competing with Albert Camus but was rejected several times, especially in 1954 and 1955, `` so long as he does not come back to novel ''. Thus, Camus was awarded the prize in 1957. Some attribute W.H. Auden 's not being awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature to errors in his translation of 1961 Peace Prize laureate Dag Hammarskjöld 's Vägmärken ( Markings ) and to statements that Auden made during a Scandinavian lecture tour suggesting that Hammarskjöld was, like Auden, homosexual. In 1962, John Steinbeck received the Nobel Prize for Literature. The selection was heavily criticized, and described as `` one of the Academy 's biggest mistakes '' in one Swedish newspaper. The New York Times asked why the Nobel committee gave the award to an author whose `` limited talent is, in his best books, watered down by tenth - rate philosophising '', adding, `` we think it interesting that the laurel was not awarded to a writer... whose significance, influence and sheer body of work had already made a more profound impression on the literature of our age ''. Steinbeck himself, when asked if he deserved the Nobel on the day of the announcement, replied : `` Frankly, no. '' In 2012 ( 50 years later ), the Nobel Prize opened its archives and it was revealed that Steinbeck was a `` compromise choice '' among a shortlist consisting of Steinbeck, British authors Robert Graves and Lawrence Durrell, French dramatist Jean Anouilh and Danish author Karen Blixen. The declassified documents showed that he was chosen as the best of a bad lot : `` There are n't any obvious candidates for the Nobel prize and the prize committee is in an unenviable situation, '' wrote committee member Henry Olsson. In 1964, Jean - Paul Sartre was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, but he wrote declining it, stating that `` It is not the same thing if I sign Jean - Paul Sartre or if I sign Jean - Paul Sartre, Nobel Prize laureate. A writer must refuse to allow himself to be transformed into an institution, even if it takes place in the most honorable form. '' Nevertheless he was awarded the prize. Soviet dissident writer Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, the 1970 prize laureate, did not attend the Nobel Prize ceremony in Stockholm for fear that the USSR would prevent his return afterwards ( his works there were circulated in samizdat -- clandestine form ). After the Swedish government refused to honor Solzhenitsyn with a public award ceremony and lecture at its Moscow embassy, Solzhenitsyn refused the award altogether, commenting that the conditions set by the Swedes ( who preferred a private ceremony ) were `` an insult to the Nobel Prize itself. '' Solzhenitsyn did not accept the award and prize money until 10 December 1974, after he was deported from the Soviet Union. In 1974, Graham Greene, Vladimir Nabokov, and Saul Bellow were considered but rejected in favor of a joint award for Swedish authors Eyvind Johnson and Harry Martinson, both members of the Swedish Academy at the time, and unknown outside their home country. Bellow received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1976 ; neither Greene nor Nabokov was awarded it. Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges was nominated for the Prize several times but, as Edwin Williamson, Borges 's biographer, states, the Academy did not award it to him, most likely because of his support of certain Argentine and Chilean right - wing military dictators, including Augusto Pinochet, which, according to Tóibín 's review of Williamson 's Borges : A Life, had complex social and personal contexts. Borges ' failure to receive the Nobel Prize for his support of these right - wing dictators contrasts with the Committee honoring writers who openly supported controversial left - wing dictatorships, including Joseph Stalin, in the cases of Sartre and Pablo Neruda. Also, controversially, Gabriel García Márquez supported the Cuban Revolutionary and President Fidel Castro. In 1986, the Nigerian writer Wole Soyinka received the prize, regardless of the fact that he had held a radio station up at gunpoint in his native country in 1965. The award to Italian performance artist Dario Fo in 1997 was initially considered `` rather lightweight '' by some critics, as he was seen primarily as a performer, and Catholic organizations saw the award to Fo as controversial as he had previously been censured by the Roman Catholic Church. The Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano expressed surprise at Fo 's selection for the prize commenting that `` Giving the prize to someone who is also the author of questionable works is beyond all imagination. '' Salman Rushdie and Arthur Miller had been strongly favoured to receive the Prize, but the Nobel organisers were later quoted as saying that they would have been `` too predictable, too popular. '' Camilo José Cela willingly offered his services as an informer for Franco 's regime and had moved voluntarily from Madrid to Galicia during the Spanish Civil War in order to join the rebel forces there ; an article by Miguel Angel Villena, Between Fear and Impunity which compiled commentaries by Spanish novelists on the noteworthy silence of the older generation of Spanish novelists on the Francoist pasts of public intellectuals, appeared below a photograph of Cela during the Nobel ceremony in Stockholm in 1989. The choice of the 2004 laureate, Elfriede Jelinek, was protested by a member of the Swedish Academy, Knut Ahnlund, who had not played an active role in the Academy since 1996 ; Ahnlund resigned, alleging that selecting Jelinek had caused `` irreparable damage '' to the reputation of the award. The selection of Harold Pinter for the Prize in 2005 was delayed for a couple of days, apparently due to Ahnlund 's resignation, and led to renewed speculations about there being a `` political element '' in the Swedish Academy 's awarding of the Prize. Although Pinter was unable to give his controversial Nobel Lecture in person because of ill health, he delivered it from a television studio on video projected on screens to an audience at the Swedish Academy, in Stockholm. His comments have been the source of much commentary and debate. The issue of their `` political stance '' was also raised in response to the awards of the Nobel Prize in Literature to Orhan Pamuk and Doris Lessing in 2006 and 2007, respectively. The 2016 choice of Bob Dylan was the first time a musician and song - writer won the Nobel for Literature. The award caused some controversy, particularly among writers arguing that the literary merits of Dylan 's work are not equal to those of some of his peers. Lebanese novelist Rabih Alameddine tweeted that `` Bob Dylan winning a Nobel in Literature is like Mrs Fields being awarded 3 Michelin stars. '' The French Moroccan writer Pierre Assouline described the decision as `` contemptuous of writers ''. In a live webchat hosted by The Guardian, Norwegian writer Karl Ove Knausgård said that `` I 'm very divided. I love that the novel committee opens up for other kinds of literature -- lyrics and so on. I think that 's brilliant. But knowing that Dylan is the same generation as Thomas Pynchon, Philip Roth, Cormac McCarthy, makes it very difficult for me to accept it. '' Scottish novelist Irvine Welsh said `` I 'm a Dylan fan, but this is an ill conceived nostalgia award wrenched from the rancid prostates of senile, gibbering hippies. '' Dylan 's songwriting peer and friend Leonard Cohen said that no prizes were necessary to recognize the greatness of the man who transformed pop music with records like Highway 61 Revisited. `` To me, '' Cohen said, `` ( the Nobel ) is like pinning a medal on Mount Everest for being the highest mountain. '' Writer and commentator Will Self wrote that the award `` cheapened '' Dylan whilst hoping the laureate would `` follow Sartre in rejecting the award ''. Nationality - based criticism French author Albert Camus was the first African - born writer to receive the award. The prize 's focus on European men, and Swedes in particular, has been the subject of criticism, even from Swedish newspapers. The majority of laureates have been European, with Sweden itself receiving more prizes ( 8 ) than all of Asia ( 7, if Turkish Orhan Pamuk is included ), as well as all of Latin America ( 7, if Saint Lucian Derek Walcott is included ). In 2009, Horace Engdahl, then the permanent secretary of the Academy, declared that `` Europe still is the centre of the literary world '' and that `` the US is too isolated, too insular. They do n't translate enough and do n't really participate in the big dialogue of literature. '' In 2009, Engdahl 's replacement, Peter Englund, rejected this sentiment ( `` In most language areas... there are authors that really deserve and could get the Nobel Prize and that goes for the United States and the Americas, as well '' ) and acknowledged the Eurocentric nature of the award, saying that, `` I think that is a problem. We tend to relate more easily to literature written in Europe and in the European tradition. '' American critics are known to object that those from their own country, like Philip Roth, Thomas Pynchon, and Cormac McCarthy, have been overlooked, as have Latin Americans such as Jorge Luis Borges, Julio Cortázar, and Carlos Fuentes, while in their place Europeans lesser - known to that continent have triumphed. The 2009 award to Herta Müller, previously little - known outside Germany but many times named favorite for the Nobel Prize, re-ignited the viewpoint that the Swedish Academy was biased and Eurocentric. The 2010 prize was awarded to Mario Vargas Llosa, a native of Peru in South America, a generally well - regarded decision. When the 2011 prize was awarded to the Swedish poet Tomas Tranströmer, permanent secretary of the Swedish Academy Peter Englund said the prize was not decided based on politics, describing such a notion as `` literature for dummies ''. The Swedish Academy awarded the next two prizes to non-Europeans, Chinese author Mo Yan and Canadian short story writer Alice Munro. French writer Patrick Modiano 's win in 2014 renewed questions of Eurocentrism ; when asked by The Wall Street Journal `` So no American this year, yet again. Why is that ? '', Englund reminded Americans of the Canadian origins of the previous year 's recipient, the Academy 's desire for literary quality and the impossibility of rewarding everyone who deserves the prize. Overlooked literary achievements In the history of the Nobel Prize in Literature, many literary achievements were overlooked. The literary historian Kjell Espmark admitted that `` as to the early prizes, the censure of bad choices and blatant omissions is often justified. Tolstoy, Ibsen, and Henry James should have been rewarded instead of, for instance, Sully Prudhomme, Eucken, and Heyse ''. There are omissions which are beyond the control of the Nobel Committee such as the early death of an author as was the case with Marcel Proust, Italo Calvino, and Roberto Bolaño. According to Kjell Espmark `` the main works of Kafka, Cavafy, and Pessoa were not published until after their deaths and the true dimensions of Mandelstam 's poetry were revealed above all in the unpublished poems that his wife saved from extinction and gave to the world long after he had perished in his Siberian exile ''. British novelist Tim Parks ascribed the never - ending controversy surrounding the decisions of the Nobel Committee to the `` essential silliness of the prize and our own foolishness at taking it seriously '' and noted that `` eighteen ( or sixteen ) Swedish nationals will have a certain credibility when weighing up works of Swedish literature, but what group could ever really get its mind round the infinitely varied work of scores of different traditions. And why should we ask them to do that ? '' Controversies about Swedish Academy board members Membership in the 18 - member committee, who select the recipients, is technically for life. Members are not allowed to leave, although they might refuse to participate. For members who do not participate their board seat is left vacant until they die. Twelve active / participating members are required for a quorum. In 1989, three members resigned in protest after the academy refused to denounce Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini for calling for the death of Salman Rushdie, author of The Satanic Verses. 2018 controversy and award cancellation In April 2018, three members of the academy board resigned in response to a sexual - misconduct investigation involving author Jean - Claude Arnault who is married to board member Katarina Frostenson. Arnault was accused by at least 18 women of sexual assault and harassment. He and his wife were also accused of leaking the names of prize recipients on at least seven occasions so friends could profit from bets. He denied all accusations, although he would be later convicted of rape and sentenced to two years in prison. The three members resigned in protest over the decision by Sara Danius, the board secretary, not to take what they felt was appropriate legal action against Arnault. Two former permanent secretaries, Sture Allén and Horace Engdahl, called Danius a weak leader. On 10 April, Danius was asked to resign from her position by the Academy, bringing the number of empty seats to four. Frostenson voluntarily agreed to withdraw from participating in the academy, bringing the total of withdrawals to five. Because two other seats were still vacant from the Rushdie affair, this left only 11 active members, one short of the quorum needed to vote in replacements. On 4 May 2018, the Swedish Academy announced that the selection will be postponed until 2019, when two laureates will be chosen. It was still technically possible to choose a 2018 laureate, as only eight active members are required to choose a recipient. However, there were concerns that the academy was not in any condition to credibly present the award. The New Academy Prize in Literature was created as an alternative award for the 2018 only. The scandal was widely seen as damaging to the credibility of the prize and its authority. `` With this scandal you can not possibly say that this group of people has any kind of solid judgment, '' noted Swedish journalist Björn Wiman. As noted by Andrew Brown in The Guardian in a lengthy deconstruction of the scandal : `` The scandal has elements of a tragedy, in which people who set out to serve literature and culture discovered they were only pandering to writers and the people who hang around with them. The pursuit of excellence in art was entangled with the pursuit of social prestige. The academy behaved as if the meals in its clubhouse were as much an accomplishment as the work that got people elected there. '' Similar International prizes The Nobel Prize in Literature is not the only literary prize for which all nationalities are eligible. Other notable international literary prizes include the Neustadt International Prize for Literature, the Franz Kafka Prize, the Man Booker International Prize, and in the 1960s the Formentor Prix International. In contrast to the other prizes mentioned, the Neustadt International Prize is awarded biennially. The journalist Hephzibah Anderson has noted that the Man Booker International Prize `` is fast becoming the more significant award, appearing an ever more competent alternative to the Nobel ''. The Man Booker International Prize `` highlights one writer 's overall contribution to fiction on the world stage '' and `` has literary excellence as its sole focus ''. Established in 2005, it is not yet possible to analyze its importance on potential future Nobel Prize in Literature laureates. Only Alice Munro ( 2009 ) has been awarded with both. The Neustadt International Prize for Literature is regarded as one of the most prestigious international literary prizes, often referred to as the American equivalent to the Nobel Prize. Like the Nobel or the Man Booker International Prize, it is awarded not for any one work, but for an entire body of work. It is frequently seen as an indicator of who may be awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. Gabriel García Márquez ( 1972 Neustadt, 1982 Nobel ), Czesław Miłosz ( 1978 Neustadt, 1980 Nobel ), Octavio Paz ( 1982 Neustadt, 1990 Nobel ), Tomas Tranströmer ( 1990 Neustadt, 2011 Nobel ) were first awarded the Neustadt International Prize for Literature before being awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. Another award of note is the Spanish Princess of Asturias Award ( formerly Prince of Asturias Award ) in Letters. During the first years of its existence it was almost exclusively awarded to writers in the Spanish language, but in more recent times writers in other languages have been awarded as well. Writers who have won both the Asturias Award in Letters and the Nobel Prize in Literature include Camilo José Cela, Günter Grass, Doris Lessing, and Mario Vargas Llosa. The America Award in Literature, which does not include a monetary prize, presents itself as an alternative to the Nobel Prize in Literature. To date, Harold Pinter and José Saramago are the only writers to have received both the America Award and the Nobel Prize in Literature. There are also prizes for honouring the lifetime achievement of writers in specific languages, like the Miguel de Cervantes Prize ( for Spanish language, established in 1976 ) and the Camões Prize ( for Portuguese language, established in 1989 ). Nobel laureates who were also awarded the Miguel de Cervantes Prize include Octavio Paz ( 1981 Cervantes, 1990 Nobel ) ; Mario Vargas Llosa ( 1994 Cervantes, 2010 Nobel ) ; and Camilo José Cela ( 1995 Cervantes, 1989 Nobel ). José Saramago is the only author to receive both the Camões Prize ( 1995 ) and the Nobel Prize ( 1998 ) to date. The Hans Christian Andersen Award is sometimes referred to as `` the Little Nobel. '' The award has earned this appellation since, in a similar manner to the Nobel Prize in Literature, it recognizes the lifetime achievement of writers, though the Andersen Award focuses on a single category of literary works ( children 's literature ). See also Literature portal The Big Read List of literary awards List of Nobel laureates List of Nobel laureates in Literature Lists of 100 best books Nobel Library Swedish Academy Nordic Prize World literature References Jump up ^ `` Nobel Prize amount is raised by SEK 1 million ''. Nobelprize.org. Jump up ^ `` The Nobel Prize in Literature ''. nobelprize.org. Retrieved 13 October 2007. ^ Jump up to : John Sutherland ( 13 October 2007 ). `` Ink and Spit ''. Guardian Unlimited Books. The Guardian. Retrieved 13 October 2007. ^ Jump up to : `` Nobel Prize for Literature postponed amid Swedish Academy turmoil ''. BBC. 4 May 2018. 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' There is the view that the Nobel literature prize often goes to someone whose political stance is found to be sympathetic at a given moment, ' said Alan Jenkins, deputy editor of the Times Literary Supplement. ' For the last 10 years he has been more angry and vituperative, and that can not have failed to be noticed. ' However, Mr Jenkins insists that, though Pinter 's political views may have been a factor, the award is more than justified on artistic criteria alone. ' His dramatic and literary achievement is head and shoulders above any other British writer. He is far and away the most interesting, the best, the most powerful and most original of English playwrights. ' Jump up ^ `` History -- Historic Figures : Alfred Nobel ( 1833 -- 1896 ) ''. BBC. Retrieved 15 January 2010. Jump up ^ `` Guide to Nobel Prize ''. Britannica.com. Retrieved 15 January 2010. 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Jump up ^ AFP, `` Alfred Nobel 's last will and testament '' Archived 9 October 2009 at the Wayback Machine., The Local ( 5 October 2009 ) : accessed 20 January 2010. ^ Jump up to : `` Nobel Prize '' ( 2007 ), in Encyclopædia Britannica, accessed 15 January 2009, from Encyclopædia Britannica Online : After Nobel 's death, the Nobel Foundation was set up to carry out the provisions of his will and to administer his funds. In his will, he had stipulated that four different institutions -- three Swedish and one Norwegian -- should award the prizes. From Stockholm, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences confers the prizes for physics, chemistry, and economics, the Karolinska Institute confers the prize for physiology or medicine, and the Swedish Academy confers the prize for literature. The Norwegian Nobel Committee based in Oslo confers the prize for peace. The Nobel Foundation is the legal owner and functional administrator of the funds and serves as the joint administrative body of the prize - awarding institutions, but it is not concerned with the prize deliberations or decisions, which rest exclusively with the four institutions. Jump up ^ `` Nomination for the Nobel Prize in Literature ''. nobelprize.org. Archived from the original on 11 October 2007. Retrieved 13 October 2007. ^ Jump up to : Per Wästberg ( President of The Nobel Committee for Literature ), `` Do We Need the Nobel ? '', The New York Review of Books, 22 December 2011. Last accessed December 2011. Jump up ^ `` Nomination and Selection of the Nobel Laureates in Literature ''. nobelprize.org. Archived from the original on 11 October 2007. Retrieved 13 October 2007. ^ Jump up to : David Keyton ( 6 April 2018 ). `` 3 judges quit Nobel literature prize committee ''. The Washington Times. Associated Press. Retrieved 6 May 2018. Jump up ^ Holmgren, Mia ( 2 May 2018 ). `` Kungen : Det är nu Akademiens ansvar att vidta nödvändiga åtgärder '' ( The King : The Academy is now responsible for taking necessary action ). Dagens Nyheter. Dagens Nyheter. Retrieved 4 May 2018. Jump up ^ Nilsson, Christoffer ( 18 April 2018 ). `` Kungen ändrar Akademiens stadgar '' ( The King alters Academy rules ). Aftonbladet. Aftonbladet. Retrieved 4 May 2018. Jump up ^ Tom Rivers ( 10 December 2009 ). `` 2009 Nobel Laureates Receive Their Honors - Europe - English ''... voanews.com. Retrieved 15 January 2010. Jump up ^ `` The Nobel Prize Amounts ''. Nobelprize.org. Retrieved 12 October 2011. ^ Jump up to : `` Nobel Prize -- Prizes '' ( 2007 ), in Encyclopædia Britannica, accessed 15 January 2009, from Encyclopædia Britannica Online : Each Nobel Prize consists of a gold medal, a diploma bearing a citation, and a sum of money, the amount of which depends on the income of the Nobel Foundation. ( A sum of $1,300,000 accompanied each prize in 2005. ) A Nobel Prize is either given entirely to one person, divided equally between two persons, or shared by three persons. In the latter case, each of the three persons can receive a one - third share of the prize or two together can receive a one - half share. Jump up ^ `` The Size of the Nobel Prize Is Being Reduced to Safeguard Long - Term Capital ''. Nobel official website. 11 June 2012. Retrieved 11 June 2012. Jump up ^ `` The Nobel Prize Amount ''. nobelprize.org. Retrieved 13 October 2007. ^ Jump up to : `` Nobel Prize Amounts '' ( PDF ). Nobel website. Retrieved 12 June 2012. Jump up ^ `` The Nobel Prize Award Ceremonies ''. nobelprize.org. Archived from the original on 11 October 2007. Retrieved 13 October 2007. Jump up ^ `` Medalj -- ett traditionellt hantverk '' ( in Swedish ). Myntverket. Archived from the original on 18 December 2007. Retrieved 15 December 2007. Jump up ^ `` The Nobel Prize for Peace '' Archived 16 September 2009 at the Wayback Machine., `` Linus Pauling : Awards, Honors, and Medals '', Linus Pauling and The Nature of the Chemical Bond : A Documentary History, the Valley Library, Oregon State University. Retrieved 7 December 2007. Jump up ^ `` Nobel Prize for Chemistry. Front and back images of the medal. 1954 '', `` Source : Photo by Eric Arnold. Ava Helen and Linus Pauling Papers. Honors and Awards, 1954h2. 1 '', `` All Documents and Media : Pictures and Illustrations '', Linus Pauling and The Nature of the Chemical Bond : A Documentary History, the Valley Library, Oregon State University. Retrieved 7 December 2007. Jump up ^ `` The Nobel Medal for Literature ''. Nobelprize.org. The Nobel Foundation. Retrieved 11 November 2014. ^ Jump up to : `` The Nobel Prize Diplomas ''. Nobelprize.org. Retrieved 12 October 2011. Jump up ^ `` The Nomination Database for the Nobel Prize in Literature, 1901 -- 1965 ''. Nobelprize.org. Retrieved 12 March 2016. Jump up ^ `` Nomination FAQ ''. Nobelprize.org. Archived from the original on 28 April 2013. Retrieved 5 June 2012. Jump up ^ Jeffrey C. Kinkley, ed. ( 2004 ). Selected Stories of Shen Congwen. Chinese University Press. p. xiv. ISBN 978 - 9629961107. Jump up ^ Eldridge, Richard. The Oxford Handbook of Philosophy and Literature. Oxford University Press. p. 288. ISBN 978 - 0 - 19 - 972410 - 9. Retrieved 18 October 2016. Jump up ^ Innes, edited by Frederick J. Marker, Christopher ( 1998 ). Modernism in European drama : Ibsen, Strindberg, Pirandello, Beckett : essays from Modern drama. Toronto : University of Toronto Press. p. xi. ISBN 978 - 0 - 8020 - 8206 - 0. CS1 maint : Extra text : authors list ( link ) Jump up ^ Steene, selected, translated, and edited by Egil Törnqvist and Birgitta ( 2007 ). Strindberg on drama and theatre : a source book. Amsterdam : Amsterdam University Press. p. 189. ISBN 978 - 90 - 5356 - 020 - 4. Jump up ^ Warme, edited by Lars G. ( 1996 ). A history of Scandinavian literatures. Lincoln, Neb. : Univ. of Nebraska Press in cooperation with the American - Scandinavian Foundation. p. 271. ISBN 978 - 0 - 8032 - 4750 - 5. CS1 maint : Extra text : authors list ( link ) Jump up ^ Gordon Bowker. James Joyce : A New Biography. New York : Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2011. p. 537 Jump up ^ Peter Swirski. From Lowbrow to Nobrow. McGill Queen 's University Press. Jump up ^ `` The Nomination Database for the Nobel Prize in Literature, 1901 - 1950 ''. www.nobelprize.org. Retrieved 2 June 2012. Jump up ^ Glenday, Craig ( 2010 ). Guinness World Records 2011. ISBN 978 - 1 - 904994 - 57 - 2. Jump up ^ `` Article ( in Swedish ) : `` Violent debate in the Academy when Lagerlöf was elected ''. 25 September 2009 '' ( in Swedish ). Svd.se. Retrieved 3 February 2012. Jump up ^ Lindberg, Sebastian Nilsson. `` Writer Portrait : Selma Lagerlöf ''. The Literary Magazine of Swedish Books and Writers. Retrieved 17 March 2017. Jump up ^ Olivier Truc, `` Et Camus obtint enfin le prix Nobel ''. Le Monde, 28 December 2008. Jump up ^ Harold Orlans, `` Self - Centered Translating : Why W.H. Auden Misinterpreted ' Markings ' When Translating It from Swedish to English '', Change : The Magazine of Higher Learning ( published by Heldref Publications for The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching ), 1 May 2000, Highbeam Encyclopedia, encyclopedia.com, accessed 26 April 2008 : `` Swedish dismay at the mangled translation may have cost Auden the Nobel prize in literature. '' Jump up ^ Alex Hunnicutt, `` Dag Hammarskjöld '' Archived 19 October 2006 at the Wayback Machine., glbtq : An Encyclopedia of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Culture ( Heldref Publications, 2004 ), glbtq.com, accessed 11 August 2006 : `` Unless some hidden manuscript surfaces or an aging lover suddenly feels moved to revelation, it seems unlikely the world will ever know for sure the details of Hammarskjöld 's sexual experience. W.H. Auden, who translated Markings, was convinced of his ( Hammarsköld 's ) homosexuality. Saying so publicly during a lecture tour of Scandinavia may have cost Auden the Nobel Prize in Literature that he was widely expected to receive in the 1960s. '' ^ Jump up to : Alison Flood ( 3 January 2013 ). `` Swedish Academy reopens controversy surrounding Steinbeck 's Nobel prize ''. The Guardian. Retrieved 3 January 2013. Jump up ^ English, Jason. `` Odd facts about Nobel Prize winners ''. CNN. Retrieved 11 November 2014. Jump up ^ https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/lists/all/index.html Jump up ^ Feldbrugge, F.J.M. ( 1975 ). Samizdat and Political Dissent in the Soviet Union. Leyden : A.W. Sijthoff. p. 24. ISBN 9789028601758. Jump up ^ Stig Fredrikson, `` How I Helped Alexandr Solzhenitsyn Smuggle His Nobel Lecture from the USSR '', nobelprize.org, 22 February 2006. Retrieved 12 October 2011. Jump up ^ Barkman, Clas ( 6 October 2011 ). `` Tidigare val av svenska Nobelpristagare hårt kritiserade '' ( Previous choices of Swedish Nobel Laureates severely criticized ). www.dn.se. Dagens Nyheter. Retrieved 28 January 2016. Jump up ^ Hansson, Anita ( 31 August 2000 ). `` Martinson begick harakiri '' ( Martinson committed hara - kiri ). wwwc.aftonbladet.se. Aftonbladet. Retrieved 29 January 2016. Jump up ^ Shankar, Ravi ( 12 October 2014 ). `` A Prize With a View ''. www.newindianexpress.com. The New Indian Express. Retrieved 28 January 2016. Jump up ^ Alex Duval Smith ( 14 October 2005 ). `` A Nobel Calling : 100 Years of Controversy ''. The Independent. news.independent.co.uk. Archived from the original on 24 December 2007. Retrieved 26 April 2008. Not many women, a weakness for Anglo - Saxon literature and an ostrich - like ability to resist popular or political pressure. Alex Duval Smith reports from Stockholm on the strange and secret world of the Swedish Academy. Jump up ^ Colm Tóibín ( 11 May 2006 ). `` Do n't Abandon Me ''. The London Review of Books. Retrieved 13 October 2007. Jump up ^ New studies agree that Beauvoir is eclipsing Sartre as a philosopher and writer The Independent 25 May 2008. Retrieved on 4 January 2009. Jump up ^ Textos escondidos de Pablo Neruda Libros 14 April 2005. Retrieved on 4 January 2009. Jump up ^ `` Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Fidel Castro : A controversial friendship ''. The Economic Times. 18 April 2014. Retrieved 18 April 2014. Jump up ^ Rahim, Sameer ( 9 October 2009 ). `` Who is Herta Müller, laureate of the Nobel Prize for literature 2009 ? ''. The Telegraph. Retrieved 25 May 2012. Jump up ^ Carroll, Julie ( 27 February 2007 ). `` The Catholic Spirit : ' Pope and Witch ' draws Catholic protests ''. Catholic Online. Archived from the original on 2 February 2008. Retrieved 13 October 2007. Jump up ^ Bohlen, Celestine ( 10 October 1997 ). `` Italy 's Barbed Political Jester, Dario Fo, Wins Nobel Prize ''. The New York Times. Retrieved 25 May 2012. Jump up ^ `` Nobel Stuns Italy 's Left - wing Jester '', The Times, 10 October 1997, rpt. in Archives of a list at hartford-hwp.com. Retrieved 17 October 2007. Jump up ^ Unearthing Franco 's Legacy, p. 17, University of Nortre dame Press. Jump up ^ `` Nobel Judge Steps Down in Protest ''. BBC News Online. BBC. 11 October 2005. Retrieved 13 October 2007. Jump up ^ Associated Press, `` Who Deserves Nobel Prize ? Judges Do n't Agree '', MSNBC, 11 October 2005. Retrieved 13 October 2007. Jump up ^ Dan Kellum, `` Lessing 's Legacy of Political Literature : The Nation : Skeptics Call It A Nonliterary Nobel Win, But Academy Saw Her Visionary Power '', CBS News, rpt. from The Nation ( column ), 14 October 2007. Retrieved 17 October 2007. Jump up ^ Bob Dylan winning a Nobel in Literature is like Mrs Fields being awarded 3 Michelin stars, Rabih Alameddine 's Twitter page, 13 October 2016. Jump up ^ Le bras d'honneur des Nobel à la littérature américaine, La Républic, Ocbtober 13, 2016. Jump up ^ Karl Ove Knausgaard webchat -- your questions answered on self - loathing, love and Jürgen Klopp, The Guardian, 17 October 2016. Jump up ^ `` Do n't think twice, it 's all right : Bob Dylan wins Nobel Lit ''. Associated Press. Yahoo ! News. 13 October 2016. Retrieved 13 October 2016. Jump up ^ Leonard Cohen : giving Nobel to Bob Dylan like ' pinning medal on Everest ', Guardian, 13 October 2016. Jump up ^ `` ' Dylan towers over everyone ' -- Salman Rushdie, Kate Tempest and more pay tribute to Bob Dylan ''. The Guardian. Retrieved 14 October 2016. Jump up ^ Dagens Nyheter Akademien väljer helst en europé ( The Academy prefers to pick a European ) Jump up ^ Kirsch, Adam ( 3 October 2008 ). `` The Nobel Committee has no clue about American literature ''. Slate.com. Retrieved 16 June 2010. Jump up ^ `` Judge : Nobel literature prizes ' too Eurocentric ' - World news - guardian.co.uk ''. Guardian. 6 October 2009. Retrieved 5 February 2010. Jump up ^ Jordan, Mary ( 9 October 2009 ). `` Herta Mueller Wins Nobel Prize in Literature ''. Washington Post. Retrieved 6 October 2017. Jump up ^ Kite, Lorien. `` Sweden 's ' buzzard ' poet wins Nobel Prize ''. Financial Times. Retrieved on 6 October 2011. `` Before Thursday 's announcement, there had also been much speculation that the committee would choose to honour the Syrian poet Adonis in a gesture towards the Arab Spring. But Mr England ( sic ) dismissed the notion that there was a political dimension to the prize ; such an approach, he said, was `` literature for dummies ''. '' Jump up ^ Grundberg, Sven ; Hansegard, Jens ( 9 October 2014 ). `` So no American this year, yet again. Why is that ? ''. The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 9 October 2014. ^ Jump up to : Espmark, Kjell. `` Nobel 's Will and the Literature Prize ''. Nobelprize.org. Retrieved 6 May 2012. ^ Jump up to : Parks, Tim. `` What 's Wrong With the Nobel Prize in Literature ''. New York Review of Books. Retrieved 28 May 2012. ^ Jump up to : Christina Anderson ( 12 April 2018 ). `` In Nobel Scandal, a Man Is Accused of Sexual Misconduct. A Woman Takes the Fall ''. The New York Times. Retrieved 13 April 2018. Jump up ^ Tim Parks ( May 4, 2018 ). `` The Nobel Prize for Literature Is a Scandal All by Itself ''. New York Times. Retrieved May 5, 2018. Jump up ^ Malmgren, Kim ; Wikström, Mattis ( 1 October 2018 ). `` Jean - Claude Arnault döms till två års fängelse '' ( Jean - Claude Arnault sentenced to two years in prison ). Expressen. Retrieved 1 October 2018. Jump up ^ Andersson, Christina ( 20 April 2018 ). `` Nobel Panel Admits Inquiry Found Sexual Misconduct, but Nothing Illegal ''. The New York Times. Jump up ^ `` Sexual Misconduct Claim Spurs Nobel Members to Step Aside in Protest ''. The New York Times. Reuters. 6 April 2018. Retrieved 7 April 2018. Jump up ^ Åkerman, Felicia ( 12 April 2018 ). `` Sara Danius lämnar Svenska Akademien '' ( Sara Danius leaves the Swedeish Academy ). Dagens Industri. Retrieved 4 May 2018. Jump up ^ Christina Anderson ; Palko Karasz ( May 2, 2018 ). `` Why There Wo n't Be a Nobel Prize in Literature This Year ''. The New York Times. Jump up ^ Löfgren, Emma ( 29 August 2018 ). `` Four writers shortlisted for ' the new Nobel Literature Prize ' ''. The Local. Retrieved 11 September 2018. Jump up ^ Andrew Brown ( 17 July 2018 ). `` The ugly scandal that cancelled the Nobel prize ''. The Guardian. Retrieved 19 July 2018. Jump up ^ Anderson, Hephzibah ( 31 May 2009 ). `` Alice Munro : The mistress of all she surveys ''. The Guardian. Retrieved 28 May 2012. ^ Jump up to : `` One writer 's achievement in fiction ''. The Booker Prize Foundation. Retrieved 2 June 2012. Jump up ^ Clark, David Draper. `` World Literature Today ''. Oklahoma Historical Society. Retrieved 28 May 2012. Jump up ^ Maori writer this year 's Neustadt International Prize winner -- The Norman Transcript Jump up ^ `` Hans Christian Andersen Award ''. Central Connecticut State University. External links Wikisource has original works on the topic : Nobel Prize in Literature Wikimedia Commons has media related to Nobel Prize in Literature. The Nobel Prize Medal for Literature -- Official webpage of the Nobel Foundation. Graphics : National Literature Nobel Prize shares 1901 -- 2009 by citizenship at the time of the award and by country of birth. From J. Schmidhuber ( 2010 ), Evolution of National Nobel Prize Shares in the 20th Century at arXiv : 1009.2634 v1 What the Nobel Laureates Receive -- Featured link in `` The Nobel Prize Award Ceremonies '' on the official site of the Nobel Foundation. `` The rise of the Prize '' -- Article by Nilanjana Roy dealing with the history of the award by decade, from the 1900s to the 2000s. Alternative Nobel literature prize planned in Sweden Nobel Prizes Lists of Nobel laureates Prizes Chemistry Economics Literature Peace Physics Physiology or Medicine Laureates by subject Chemistry Economics Literature Peace Physics Physiology or Medicine by criterion African Arab Asian Black Female Latino and Hispanic Jewish by country Argentine Australian Belgian Chinese Danish Hungarian Indian Israeli Italian Japanese Korean Polish Russian Spanish Swedish Welsh by religion Christian Jewish Muslim Non-religious by year List of Nobel laureates by year by university affiliation University affiliation by occupation Head of Government and State Committees and organisations Nobel Foundation Nobel Committees Chemistry Economics Physics Physiology or Medicine Norwegian Nobel Committee Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute Related topics Controversies Other prizes Alfred Nobel Nobel Memorial Prize ( not one of the original Nobel Prizes ). Laureates of the Nobel Prize in Literature 1901 -- 1925 1901 Sully Prudhomme 1902 Theodor Mommsen 1903 Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson 1904 Frédéric Mistral / José Echegaray 1905 Henryk Sienkiewicz 1906 Giosuè Carducci 1907 Rudyard Kipling 1908 Rudolf Eucken 1909 Selma Lagerlöf 1910 Paul Heyse 1911 Maurice Maeterlinck 1912 Gerhart Hauptmann 1913 Rabindranath Tagore 1914 1915 Romain Rolland 1916 Verner von Heidenstam 1917 Karl Gjellerup / Henrik Pontoppidan 1918 1919 Carl Spitteler 1920 Knut Hamsun 1921 Anatole France 1922 Jacinto Benavente 1923 W.B. Yeats 1924 Władysław Reymont 1925 George Bernard Shaw 1926 -- 1950 1926 Grazia Deledda 1927 Henri Bergson 1928 Sigrid Undset 1929 Thomas Mann 1930 Sinclair Lewis 1931 Erik Axel Karlfeldt 1932 John Galsworthy 1933 Ivan Bunin 1934 Luigi Pirandello 1935 1936 Eugene O'Neill 1937 Roger Martin du Gard 1938 Pearl S. Buck 1939 Frans Eemil Sillanpää 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 Johannes V. Jensen 1945 Gabriela Mistral 1946 Hermann Hesse 1947 André Gide 1948 T.S. Eliot 1949 William Faulkner 1950 Bertrand Russell 1951 -- 1975 1951 Pär Lagerkvist 1952 François Mauriac 1953 Winston Churchill 1954 Ernest Hemingway 1955 Halldór Laxness 1956 Juan Ramón Jiménez 1957 Albert Camus 1958 Boris Pasternak 1959 Salvatore Quasimodo 1960 Saint - John Perse 1961 Ivo Andrić 1962 John Steinbeck 1963 Giorgos Seferis 1964 Jean - Paul Sartre ( declined award ) 1965 Mikhail Sholokhov 1966 Shmuel Yosef Agnon / Nelly Sachs 1967 Miguel Ángel Asturias 1968 Yasunari Kawabata 1969 Samuel Beckett 1970 Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn 1971 Pablo Neruda 1972 Heinrich Böll 1973 Patrick White 1974 Eyvind Johnson / Harry Martinson 1975 Eugenio Montale 1976 -- 2000 1976 Saul Bellow 1977 Vicente Aleixandre 1978 Isaac Bashevis Singer 1979 Odysseas Elytis 1980 Czesław Miłosz 1981 Elias Canetti 1982 Gabriel García Márquez 1983 William Golding 1984 Jaroslav Seifert 1985 Claude Simon 1986 Wole Soyinka 1987 Joseph Brodsky 1988 Naguib Mahfouz 1989 Camilo José Cela 1990 Octavio Paz 1991 Nadine Gordimer 1992 Derek Walcott 1993 Toni Morrison 1994 Kenzaburō Ōe 1995 Seamus Heaney 1996 Wisława Szymborska 1997 Dario Fo 1998 José Saramago 1999 Günter Grass 2000 Gao Xingjian 2001 -- present 2001 V.S. Naipaul 2002 Imre Kertész 2003 J.M. Coetzee 2004 Elfriede Jelinek 2005 Harold Pinter 2006 Orhan Pamuk 2007 Doris Lessing 2008 J.M.G. Le Clézio 2009 Herta Müller 2010 Mario Vargas Llosa 2011 Tomas Tranströmer 2012 Mo Yan 2013 Alice Munro 2014 Patrick Modiano 2015 Svetlana Alexievich 2016 Bob Dylan 2017 Kazuo Ishiguro 2018 1 : New Academy Prize in Literature awarded to Maryse Condé in lieu of 2018 Nobel Prize Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Nobel_Prize_in_Literature&oldid=864361914 '' Categories : Nobel Prize in Literature Fiction awards Hidden categories : Webarchive template wayback links CS1 Swedish - language sources ( sv ) CS1 maint : Extra text : authors list Articles with short description Use dmy dates from May 2018 Pages using deprecated image syntax Articles containing Swedish - language text Articles containing potentially dated statements from 2011 All articles containing potentially dated statements Articles containing potentially dated statements from 2012 Talk Contents About Wikipedia Wikiquote Wikisource Afrikaans Alemannisch Aragonés Asturianu Azərbaycanca تۆرکجه বাংলা Bân - lâm - gú Беларуская Беларуская ( тарашкевіца ) ‎ Български Bosanski Brezhoneg Català Čeština Cymraeg Dansk Deutsch Eesti Ελληνικά Español Esperanto Euskara فارسی Føroyskt Français Frysk Gaeilge Gaelg Gàidhlig Galego 한국어 Հայերեն हिन्दी Hrvatski Ilokano Bahasa Indonesia Interlingua Interlingue Íslenska Italiano עברית Basa Jawa ಕನ್ನಡ ქართული Қазақша Kiswahili Kurdî Latina Latviešu Lëtzebuergesch Lietuvių Magyar मैथिली Македонски മലയാളം मराठी مصرى Bahasa Melayu Mìng - dĕ̤ng - ngṳ̄ မြန်မာဘာသာ Nederlands नेपाली 日本 語 Norsk Norsk nynorsk Occitan ਪੰਜਾਬੀ پنجابی Plattdüütsch Polski Português Română Runa Simi Русский Scots Seeltersk Shqip Sicilianu سنڌي Slovenščina Српски / srpski Srpskohrvatski / српскохрватски Suomi Svenska Tagalog தமிழ் Татарча / tatarça ไทย Türkçe Українська اردو Tiếng Việt Yorùbá 粵語 Zazaki Žemaitėška 中文 डोटेली 91 more Edit links This page was last edited on 16 October 2018, at 18 : 27 ( UTC ). 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Question: when was the nobel prize for literature instituted
Answer: 1901