| Year |
Book |
Laureates |
| 2022 |
The Years |
Annie Ernaux |
| 2021 |
The Last Word |
Abdulrazak Gurnah |
| 2020 |
Faithful and Virtuous Night |
Louise Glück |
| 2019 |
The Goalie's Anxiety at the Penalty Kick |
Peter Handke |
| 2018 |
Flights |
Olga Tokarczuk |
| 2017 |
The Remains of the Day |
Kazuo Ishiguro |
| 2016 |
N/A |
Bob Dylan |
| 2015 |
Voice of Chernobyl |
Svetlana Alexievich |
| 2014 |
Suspenden Sentences |
Patrick Modiano |
| 2013 |
The Luminaries |
Alice Munro |
| 2012 |
The Mo Yan Story Collection |
Mo Yan |
| 2011 |
The Tiger's Wife |
Téa Obreht |
| 2010 |
N/A |
Mario Vargas Llosa |
| 2009 |
The Hare with Amber Eyes |
Olivia Judson |
| 2008 |
Netherland |
J.M. Coetzee |
| 2007 |
Out Stealing Horses |
Doris Lessing |
| 2006 |
Imaginative Qualities of Actual Things |
Orhan Pamuk |
| 2005 |
The March |
Harold Pinter |
| 2004 |
The Master of Petersburg |
Elfriede Jelinek |
| 2003 |
Austerlitz |
J.M. Coetzee |
| 2002 |
Life & Times of Michael K |
Imre Kertész |
| 2001 |
Disgrace |
VS Naipaul |
| 2000 |
The Emigrants |
Gao Xingjian |
| 1999 |
N/A |
Günter Grass |
| 1998 |
La cena |
Jose Saramago |
| 1997 |
N/A |
Dario Fo |
| 1996 |
Poems |
Wislawa Szymborska |
| 1995 |
N/A |
Seamus Heaney |
| 1994 |
The Stone Diaries |
Carol Shields |
| 1993 |
The Tales of the Heike |
Toni Morrison |
| 1992 |
All the Names |
Derek Walcott |
| 1991 |
N/A |
Nadine Gordimer |
| 1990 |
Blindness |
Octavio Paz |
| 1989 |
The Remains of the Day |
Czeslaw Milosz |
| 1988 |
The Satanic Verses |
Naguib Mahfouz |
| 1987 |
La casa de los espíritus |
José Saramago |
| 1986 |
Literature as a System |
Wole Soyinka |
| 1985 |
The Cement Garden |
Claude Simon |
| 1984 |
N/A |
Jaroslav Seifert |
1983 |
The Old Gringo |
William Golding |
| 1982 |
One Hundred Years of Solitude |
Gabriel García Márquez |
| 1981 |
N/A |
Elias Canetti |
| 1980 |
Life and Times of Michael K |
Czesław Miłosz |
| 1979 |
The Executioner's Song |
Odysseus Elytis |
| 1978 |
N/A |
Isaac Bashevis Singer |
| 1977 |
The Hour of the Star |
Vicente Aleixandre |
| 1976 |
N/A |
Saul Bellow |
| 1975 |
N/A |
Eugenio Montale |
| 1974 |
N/A |
Harry Martinson and Eyvind Johnson |
| 1973 |
N/A |
Patrick White |
| 1972 |
Giovanni's Room |
Heinrich Böll |
| 1971 |
N/A |
Pablo Neruda |
| 1970 |
The Sound of the Mountain |
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn |
| 1969 |
N/A |
Samuel Beckett |
| 1968 |
N/A |
Yasunari Kawabata |
| 1967 |
N/A |
Miguel Angel Asturias |
| 1966 |
The Guide |
Shmuel Yosef Agnon and Nelly Sachs |
| 1965 |
The Tin Drum |
Michel Tremblay |
| 1964 |
Heimito von Doderer |
Jean-Paul Sartre |
| 1963 |
N/A |
Giorgos Seferis |
| 1962 |
The Revenants |
John Steinbeck |
| 1961 |
N/A |
Ivo Andrić |
| 1960 |
San Manuel Bueno, Martyr |
Saint-John Perse |
| 1959 |
The Magic Mountain |
Salvatore Quasimodo |
| 1958 |
N/A |
Boris Pasternak |
| 1957 |
N/A |
Albert Camus |
| 1956 |
N/A |
Juan Ramón Jiménez |
| 1955 |
N/A |
Halldór Laxness |
| 1954 |
The Old Man and the Sea |
Ernest Hemingway |
| 1953 |
N/A |
Winston Churchill |
| 1952 |
N/A |
Albert Schweitzer |
| 1951 |
N/A |
Pär Lagerkvist |
| 1950 |
Les Sables du temps |
Bertrand Russell |
| 1949 |
The Galloping Hour |
William Faulkner |
| 1948 |
Doctor Faustus |
T.S. Eliot |
| 1947 |
N/A |
André Gide |
| 1946 |
N/A |
Hermann Hesse |
| 1945 |
N/A |
Gabriela Mistral |
| 1944 |
N/A |
Johannes V. Jensen |
| 1943 |
N/A |
No Award |
| 1942 |
N/A |
No Award |
| 1941 |
N/A |
No Award |
| 1940 |
N/A |
No Award |
| 1939 |
N/A |
Frans Eemil Sillanpää |
| 1938 |
N/A |
Pearl S. Buck |
| 1937 |
N/A |
Roger Martin du Gard |
| 1936 |
N/A |
Eugene O'Neill |
| 1935 |
N/A |
N/A |
| 1934 |
N/A |
Luigi Pirandello |
| 1933 |
N/A |
Ivan Bunin |
| 1932 |
N/A |
John Galsworthy |
| 1931 |
N/A |
Erik Axel Karlfeldt |
| 1930 |
N/A |
Sinclair Lewis |
| 1929 |
N/A |
Thomas Mann |
| 1928 |
N/A |
Sigrid Undset |
| 1927 |
N/A |
Henri Bergson |
| 1926 |
N/A |
Grazia Deledda |
| 1925 |
N/A |
George Bernard Shaw |
| 1924 |
N/A |
Władysław Reymont |
| 1923 |
N/A |
William Butler Yeats |
| 1922 |
N/A |
Jacinto Benavente |
| 1921 |
N/A |
Anatole France |
| 1920 |
N/A |
Knut Hamsun |
| 1919 |
N/A |
Carl Spitteler |
| 1918 |
N/A |
No Award |
| 1917 |
N/A |
Karl Gjellerup and Henrik Pontoppidan |
| 1916 |
N/A |
Verner von Heidenstam |
| 1915 |
N/A |
Romain Rolland |
| 1914 |
N/A |
No Award |
| 1913 |
The Song Offerings |
Rabindranath Tagore |
| 1912 |
N/A |
Gerhart Hauptmann |
| 1911 |
N/A |
Maurice Maeterlinck |
| 1910 |
N/A |
Paul Heyse |
| 1909 |
N/A |
Selma Lagerlöf |
| 1908 |
N/A |
Rudolf Christoph Eucken |
| 1907 |
N/A |
Rudyard Kipling |
| 1906 |
N/A |
Giosuè Carducci |
| 1905 |
N/A |
Henryk Sienkiewicz |
| 1904 |
N/A |
Frederic Mistral and José Echegaray y Eizaguirre |
| 1903 |
N/A |
Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson |
| 1902 |
N/A |
Theodor Mommsen |
| 1901 |
N/A |
Sully Prudhomme |
The Nobel Prize in Literature is one of the most prestigious awards in the field of literature, and it has been awarded annually since 1901. The prize is given to a writer who has produced outstanding works of literature that have contributed significantly to the advancement of world literature. The Nobel Prize in Literature is unique in that it is awarded not only for a particular work, but for a lifetime of achievement in literature.
The Nobel Prize in Literature is awarded by the Swedish Academy, which is made up of 18 members who are elected for life. The Academy's role is to promote the study and appreciation of literature, as well as to determine the winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature each year. The Academy has the power to add new members as well as to expel existing members.
The Nobel Prize in Literature has been awarded to a wide range of writers over the years, including poets, novelists, playwrights, and essayists. Some of the most famous winners of the Nobel Prize in Literature include Ernest Hemingway, William Faulkner, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Toni Morrison, and Bob Dylan.
The criteria for the Nobel Prize in Literature are intentionally vague and open-ended, so as to allow for a wide range of writers to be considered. The prize is awarded to writers who have produced "the most outstanding work in an ideal direction". This means that the prize is not necessarily awarded to the most popular or best-selling writer, but rather to a writer whose work is considered to have had the most significant impact on the field of literature.
The selection process for the Nobel Prize in Literature is complex and secretive. Nominations for the prize are made by previous winners of the prize, as well as by members of the Swedish Academy and other literary societies. The nominations are then reviewed by a committee of experts, who prepare a shortlist of candidates for the prize. The final decision on the winner of the prize is made by the Swedish Academy.
The Nobel Prize in Literature has not been without controversy. Over the years, there have been a number of controversies surrounding the selection of winners, with some arguing that the prize has been overly politicized. For example, the awarding of the prize to Bob Dylan in 2016 was controversial, with some arguing that he was not a "real" writer and that the prize should only be awarded to those who write in traditional literary forms.
Despite these controversies, the Nobel Prize in Literature remains one of the most prestigious awards in the field of literature. Winning the prize can bring fame, fortune, and international recognition to a writer. It can also lead to increased sales of a writer's work and can help to cement their place in the canon of world literature.
In conclusion, the Nobel Prize in Literature is a highly respected and coveted award that recognizes the achievements of writers who have made significant contributions to the field of literature. The prize is awarded annually by the Swedish Academy, and it has been given to a diverse range of writers over the years. While there have been some controversies surrounding the prize, it remains a symbol of literary excellence and achievement.