Jon Fosse

The Nobel Prize for Literature is awarded to an individual based on the body of their published work. In his will, Swedish scientist Alfred Nobel stipulated that a portion of his estate be awarded "to the person who shall have produced in the field of literature the most outstanding work of an idealistic tendency."

The Nobel Prize in Literature for 2023 was awarded to Jon Fosse, "For his innovative plays and prose which give voice to the unsayable."

Past Winners:

2023 Jon Fosse Norway
2022 Annie Ernaux France
2021 Abdulrazak Gurnah England
2020 Louise Glück U.S.
2019 Peter Handke Austria
2018 Olga Tokarczuk Poland
2017 Kazuo Ishiguro England
2016 Bob Dylan U.S.
2015 Svetlana Alexievich Belarus
2014 Patrick Modiano France
2013 Alice Munro Canada
2012 Mo Yan China
2011 Tomas Tranströmer Sweden
2010 Mario Vargas Llosa Peru
2009 Herta Müller Romania/Germany
2008 Jean-Marie GustaveLe Clezio France
2007 Doris Lessing England
2006 Orhan Pamuk Turkey
2005 Harold Pinter England
2004 Elfriede Jelinek Austria
2003 J. M. Coetzee South Africa
2002 Imre Kertesz Hungary
2001 V. S. Naipaul England
2000 Gao Xingjian China
1999 Gunter Grass Germany
1998 Jose Saramago Portugal
1997 Dario Fo Italy
1996 Wislawa Szymborska Poland
1995 Seamus Heaney Ireland
1994 Kenzaburo Oe Japan
1993 Toni Morrison U.S.
1992 Derek Walcott The Antilles/US
1991 Nadine Gordimer South Africa
1990 Octavio Paz Mexico
1989 Camilo Jose Cela Spain
1988 Naguib Mahfouz Egypt
1987 Joseph Brodsky U.S.
1986 Wole Soyinka Nigeria
1985 Claude Simon France
1984 Jaroslav Seifert Czechoslovakia
1983 William Golding England
1982 Gabriel Garcia Marquez Colombia
1981 Elias Canetti Bulgaria
1980 Czeslaw Milosz U.S.
1979 Odysseus Elytis Greece
1978 Isaac Bashevis Singer U.S.
1977 Vicente Aleixandre Spain
1976 Saul Bellow U.S.
1975 Eugenio Montale Italy
1974 Harry Martinson Sweden
1974 Eyvind Johnson Sweden
1973 Patrick White Australia
1972 Heinrich Boll Germany
1971 Pablo Neruda Chile
1970 Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn U.S.S.R.
1969 Samuel Beckett France
1968 Yasunari Kawabata Japan
1967 Miguel Angel Asturias Guatemala
1966 Shmuel Yosef Agnon Israel
1966 Nelly Sachs Sweden
1965 Mikhail Sholokhov U.S.S.R.
1964 Jean-Paul Sartre France
1963 Giorgos Seferis Greece
1962 John Steinbeck U.S.
1961 Ivo Andric Yugoslavia
1960 St.-John Perse France
1959 Salvatore Quasimodo Italy
1958 Boris Pasternak U.S.S.R.
1957 Albert Camus France
1956 Juan Ramon Jimenez Spain
1955 Halldor Kiljan Laxness Iceland
1954 Ernest Hemingway U.S.
1953 Winston Churchill England
1952 Francois Mauriac France
1951 Par Lagerkvist Sweden
1950 Bertrand Russell England
1949 William Faulkner U.S.
1948 T. S. Eliot England
1947 Andre Gide France
1946 Hermann Hesse Switzerland
1945 Gabriela Mistral Chile
1944 Johannes V. Jensen Denmark
1943 No award was given
1942 No award was given
1941 No award was given
1940 No award was given
1939 Frans Eemil Sillanpaa Finland
1938 Pearl S. Buck U.S.
1937 Roger Martin Du Gard France
1936 Eugene O'Neill U.S.
1935 No award was given
1934 Luigi Pirandello Italy
1933 Ivan Bunin Russia
1932 John Galsworthy England
1931 Erik Karlfeldt Sweden
1930 Sinclair Lewis U.S.
1929 Thomas Mann Germany
1928 Sigrid Undset Norway
1927 Henri Bergson France
1926 Grazia Deledda Italy
1925 George Bernard Shaw England
1924 Wladyslaw Reymont Poland
1923 William Butler Yeats Ireland
1922 Jacinto Benavente Spain
1921 Anatole France France
1920 Knut Hamsun Norway
1919 Carl Spitteler Switzerland
1918 No award was given
1917 Karl Gjeilerup Denmark
1917 Henrik Pontoppidan Denmark
1916 Verner Von Heidenstam Sweden
1915 Romain Rolland France
1914 No award was given
1913 Rabindranath Tagore India
1912 Gerhart Hauptmann Germany
1911 Maurice Maeterlinck Belgium
1910 Paul Von Heyse Germany
1909 Selma Lagerlof Sweden
1908 Rudolf Eucken Germany
1907 Rudyard Kipling England
1906 Giosue Carducci Italy
1905 Henryk Sienkiewicz Poland
1904 Jose Echegaray Spain
1904 Frederic Mistral France
1903 Bjornstjerne Bjornson Norway
1902 Theodor Mommsen Germany
1901 Rene F.A.S. Prudhomme France