| 1945 | கேப்ரியெலா மிஸ்திரெல் | Spanish | "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" | poetry |  |  |
| 1946 | ஹேர்மன் ஹெசே | (Born in Germany) | German | "for his inspired writings, which while growing in boldness and penetration, exemplify the classical humanitarian ideals and high qualities of style" | novel, poetry |  |
| 1947 | André Gide | French | "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" | novel, essay |  |  |
| 1948 | தாமஸ் ஸ்டியன்ஸ் எலியட் | (Born in the அமெரிக்க ஐக்கிய நாடுகள்) | English | "for his outstanding, pioneer contribution to present-day poetry" | poetry |  |
| 1949 | வில்லியம் பால்க்னர் | English | "for his powerful and artistically unique contribution to the modern American novel" | novel, short story |  |  |
| 1950 | பெர்ட்ரண்டு ரசல் | English | "in recognition of his varied and significant writings in which he champions humanitarian ideals and freedom of thought" | philosophy |  |  |
| 1951 | Pär Lagerkvist | Swedish | "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" | poetry, novel, short story, drama |  |  |
| 1952 | François Mauriac | French | "for the deep spiritual insight and the artistic intensity with which he has in his novels penetrated the drama of human life" | novel, short story |  |  |
| 1953 | வின்ஸ்டன் சர்ச்சில் | English | "for his mastery of historical and biographical description as well as for brilliant oratory in defending exalted human values" | history, essay, memoirs |  |  |
| 1954 | ஏர்னெஸ்ட் ஹெமிங்வே | English | "for his mastery of the art of narrative, most recently demonstrated in *கிழவனும் கடலும்*, and for the influence that he has exerted on contemporary style" | novel, short story, screenplay |  |  |
| 1955 | ஹால்டார் லேக்ஸ்நஸ்ஸின் | Icelandic | "for his vivid epic power, which has renewed the great narrative art of Iceland" | novel, short story, drama, poetry |  |  |
| 1956 | வான் ரமோன் ஹிமெனெஸ் | Spanish | "for his lyrical poetry, which in Spanish language constitutes an example of high spirit and artistical purity" | poetry |  |  |
| 1957 | அல்பேர்ட் காம்யு | (Born in French Algeria) | French | "for his important literary production, which with clear-sighted earnestness illuminates the problems of the human conscience in our times" | novel, short story, drama, philosophy, essay |  |
| 1958 | போரிஸ் பாஸ்ரர்நாக் | Russian | "for his important achievement both in contemporary lyrical poetry and in the field of the great Russian epic tradition" | novel, poetry, translation |  |  |
| 1959 | Salvatore Quasimodo | Italian | "for his lyrical poetry, which with classical fire expresses the tragic experience of life in our own times" | poetry |  |  |
| 1960 | Saint-John Perse | (Born in Guadeloupe) | French | "for the soaring flight and the evocative imagery of his poetry, which in a visionary fashion reflects the conditions of our time" | poetry |  |
| 1961 | Ivo Andrić | (Born in ஆத்திரியா-அங்கேரி) | செருபோகுரோவாசிய மொழி | "for the epic force with which he has traced themes and depicted human destinies drawn from the history of his country" | novel, short story |  |
| 1962 | John Steinbeck | English | "for his realistic and imaginative writings, combining as they do sympathetic humour and keen social perception" | novel, short story, screenplay |  |  |
| 1963 | Giorgos Seferis | (Born in the உதுமானியப் பேரரசு) | Greek | "for his eminent lyrical writing, inspired by a deep feeling for the Hellenic world of culture" | poetry, essay, memoirs |  |
| 1964 | இழான் பவுல் சார்த்ர | French | "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" | novel, philosophy, drama, literary criticism, screenplay |  |  |
| 1965 | மிகயில் ஷோலகவ் | Russian | "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" | novel |  |  |
| 1966 | Shmuel Yosef Agnon | (Born in ஆத்திரியா-அங்கேரி) | Hebrew | "for his profoundly characteristic narrative art with motifs from the life of the Jewish people" | novel, short story |  |
| நெல்லி சாக்ஸ் | (Born in Germany) | German | "for her outstanding lyrical and dramatic writing, which interprets Israel's destiny with touching strength" | novel, poetry |  |  |
| 1968 | யசுனாரி கவபட்டா | Japanese | "for his narrative mastery, which with great sensibility expresses the essence of the Japanese mind" | novel, short story |  |  |
| 1969 | Samuel Beckett | English and French | "for his writing, which - in new forms for the novel and drama - in the destitution of modern man acquires its elevation" | novel, drama, poetry |  |  |
| 1970 | அலெக்சாண்டர் சோல்செனிட்சின் | Russian | "for the ethical force with which he has pursued the indispensable traditions of Russian literature" | novel |  |  |
| 1971 | பாப்லோ நெருடா | Spanish | "for a poetry that with the action of an elemental force brings alive a continent's destiny and dreams" | poetry |  |  |
| 1972 | Heinrich Böll | German | "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" | novel, short story |  |  |
| 1973 | Patrick White | (Born in the ஐக்கிய இராச்சியம்) | English | "for an epic and psychological narrative art, which has introduced a new continent into literature" | novel, short story, drama |  |
| 1974 | Eyvind Johnson | Swedish | "for a narrative art, farseeing in lands and ages, in the service of freedom" | novel |  |  |
| ஹரி மார்ட்டின்சன் | Swedish | "for writings that catch the dewdrop and reflect the cosmos" | poetry |  |  |  |
| 1976 | Saul Bellow | (Born in கனடா) | English | "for the human understanding and subtle analysis of contemporary culture that are combined in his work" | novel, short story |  |
| 1977 | Vicente Aleixandre | Spanish | "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" | poetry |  |  |
| 1978 | ஐசக் பாஷவிஸ் சிங்கர் | (Born in போலந்து) | Yiddish | "for his impassioned narrative art which, with roots in a Polish-Jewish cultural tradition, brings universal human conditions to life" | novel, short story, memoirs |  |
| 1979 | Odysseas Elytis | Greek | "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" | poetry, essay |  |  |
| 1980 | Czesław Miłosz | (born in Lithuania) | Polish | "who with uncompromising clear-sightedness voices man's exposed condition in a world of severe conflicts" | poetry, essay |  |
| 1981 | Elias Canetti | (Born in Bulgaria) | German | "for writings marked by a broad outlook, a wealth of ideas and artistic power" | novel, drama, memoirs, essay |  |
| 1982 | கபிரியேல் கார்சியா மார்க்கேஸ் | Spanish | "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" | novel, short story, screenplay |  |  |
| 1983 | வில்லியம் கோல்டிங் | English | "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" | novel, poetry, drama |  |  |