# Anne Carson

> A professor of Classics who writes poems, essays, novels in verse and translations from the Greek, she won the 2026 Nobel Prize in Literature.

- Poet, classicist and translator · Autobiography of Red · Nox
- Known for: Genre-crossing books that work with ancient Greek literature, among them *Autobiography of Red*, *Nox* and her translations of Sappho and the Greek tragedians; the Swedish Academy gave her the 2026 Nobel Prize in Literature.[1][3]
- Born: June 21, 1950
- Last updated: 2026-11-14
- Editorial review: approved 2026-11-15
- Web page: https://authorbackstories.com/authors/anne-carson/
- Reading list (PDF): https://authorbackstories.com/authors/anne-carson/reading-list.pdf

## Featured book: Start here

*Autobiography of Red: A Novel in Verse* (1998). A novel in verse that retells the Greek myth of Geryon, the red monster killed by Herakles, making him a young man with red wings and following his adolescence.[4]

## At a glance

- Born: Anne Patricia Carson, June 21, 1950, in Toronto, Ontario[1]
- Citizenship: Canadian; Icelandic since 2022[1][3]
- Education: University of Toronto, B.A. (1974), M.A. (1975) and Ph.D. (1981) in Classics[1][2]
- Taught at: Princeton, McGill, the University of Michigan, NYU and Cornell, among others[1]
- Honours: MacArthur Fellowship (2000); Order of Canada (2005)[1]
- Major award: T. S. Eliot Prize, 2001, for *The Beauty of the Husband*[1]
- Major award: Griffin Poetry Prize, 2001, for *Men in the Off Hours*[1]
- Major award: Griffin Poetry Prize, 2014, for *Red Doc>*[1]
- Major award: Princess of Asturias Award for Literature, 2020[1]
- Major award: National Book Critics Circle Award for Poetry, 2025, for *Wrong Norma*[4]
- Major award: Nobel Prize in Literature, 2026[3]

## Anne Carson's Backstory

### Early life

Anne Carson was born on June 21, 1950, in Toronto.[1] Her father was a banker, and the family lived in a series of small Canadian towns.[1] In high school a Latin teacher agreed to teach her ancient Greek over the lunch hour, the start of her lifelong work with classical literature.[2] She has said that she was more drawn to drawing than to writing when she was young.[2]

### Classics

Carson studied at St. Michael's College in the University of Toronto, leaving twice before completing a B.A. in 1974, an M.A. in 1975 and a Ph.D. in 1981; she also spent a year at the University of St Andrews studying Greek metrics.[1] She taught at the University of Calgary and then at Princeton from 1980 to 1987, and went on to teach Classics at McGill, the University of Michigan, New York University and Cornell, among others.[1]

### Books

*Eros the Bittersweet* was published in 1986.[1] *Glass, Irony and God* (1995) includes "The Glass Essay," a long poem about the end of a love affair that draws on her reading of the Brontës.[5] *Autobiography of Red* (1998) retells the myth of Geryon as a novel in verse, and its sequel, *Red Doc>*, followed in 2013.[4] Her mother died in 1997, while she was writing *Men in the Off Hours*.[1]

In 2001 *The Beauty of the Husband* made her the first woman to win the T. S. Eliot Prize, and she won the Griffin Poetry Prize for *Men in the Off Hours* that year and again for *Red Doc>* in 2014, the first poet to win it twice.[1] *Nox* (2010), made after her brother died, is a folding book of photographs, letters, drawings and poems built around an elegy by Catullus.[4] Her most recent collection, *Wrong Norma* (2024), was a finalist for the National Book Award for Poetry.[6]

### Translation and theater

Carson has translated Sappho (*If Not, Winter*, 2002), Sophocles, Aeschylus and Euripides.[1] The Swedish Academy said her translations from Classical Greek "may be regarded as independent works in their own right."[3] Her version of *Antigone*, directed by Ivo van Hove with Juliette Binoche, opened in 2015 and toured internationally.[1]

### The Nobel Prize

On October 8, 2026, the Swedish Academy awarded Carson the Nobel Prize in Literature.[3] Anders Olsson, who chairs the Nobel Committee, described her work as joining "the philologist's obsession with words and the poet's desire for new meaning."[4]

## Fun facts

- She learned ancient Greek in high school from her Latin teacher, who agreed to teach her over the lunch hour.[2]
- She dropped out of the University of Toronto twice before finishing her three degrees there.[2][1]
- She has said she didn't write much until her twenties, because she was drawn to drawing, and never thought of herself as a writer.[2]
- *The Beauty of the Husband* is subtitled "A Fictional Essay in 29 Tangos," and each section opens with lines from John Keats.[4]
- *Nox* is an accordion-folding book of photographs, letters, drawings and poems built around an elegy by Catullus, who also mourned a brother.[4]
- *Wrong Norma* is illustrated with images Carson made herself.[6]

## Books

In order of first publication; each series is kept together in reading order.

Titles and first publication years from Wikipedia's bibliography of Anne Carson, checked against the Poetry Foundation and her publishers' pages.[1][2][5][6]

- 1986: *Eros the Bittersweet* (Nonfiction). [WorldCat](https://www.worldcat.org/search?q=Eros%20the%20Bittersweet%20Anne%20Carson)
- 1992: *Short Talks* (Poetry). [WorldCat](https://www.worldcat.org/search?q=Short%20Talks%20Anne%20Carson)
- 1995: *Glass, Irony and God* (Poetry). Includes "The Glass Essay," which the Swedish Academy singled out.[3] ISBN 9780811213028. [Bookshop](https://bookshop.org/a/131187/9780811213028) · [WorldCat](https://www.worldcat.org/isbn/9780811213028)
- 1995: *Plainwater* (Other). [WorldCat](https://www.worldcat.org/search?q=Plainwater%20Anne%20Carson)
- 1998: *Autobiography of Red: A Novel in Verse* (Novel). ISBN 9780375701290. [Bookshop](https://bookshop.org/a/131187/9780375701290) · [WorldCat](https://www.worldcat.org/isbn/9780375701290)
- 1999: *Economy of the Unlost* (Nonfiction). [WorldCat](https://www.worldcat.org/search?q=Economy%20of%20the%20Unlost%20Anne%20Carson)
- 2000: *Men in the Off Hours* (Poetry). Won the 2001 Griffin Poetry Prize.[1] [WorldCat](https://www.worldcat.org/search?q=Men%20in%20the%20Off%20Hours%20Anne%20Carson)
- 2001: *Electra* (Play). Her translation of Sophocles.[1] [WorldCat](https://www.worldcat.org/search?q=Electra%20Anne%20Carson)
- 2001: *The Beauty of the Husband* (Poetry). Won the 2001 T. S. Eliot Prize.[1] [WorldCat](https://www.worldcat.org/search?q=The%20Beauty%20of%20the%20Husband%20Anne%20Carson)
- 2002: *If Not, Winter: Fragments of Sappho* (Poetry). Her translation of Sappho.[1] ISBN 9780375724510. [Bookshop](https://bookshop.org/a/131187/9780375724510) · [WorldCat](https://www.worldcat.org/isbn/9780375724510)
- 2005: *Decreation* (Poetry). [WorldCat](https://www.worldcat.org/search?q=Decreation%20Anne%20Carson)
- 2006: *Grief Lessons: Four Plays by Euripides* (Play). [WorldCat](https://www.worldcat.org/search?q=Grief%20Lessons%3A%20Four%20Plays%20by%20Euripides%20Anne%20Carson)
- 2009: *An Oresteia* (Play). Translations of Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides.[1] [WorldCat](https://www.worldcat.org/search?q=An%20Oresteia%20Anne%20Carson)
- 2010: *Nox* (Poetry). ISBN 9780811218702. [Bookshop](https://bookshop.org/a/131187/9780811218702) · [WorldCat](https://www.worldcat.org/isbn/9780811218702)
- 2012: *Antigonick* (Play). An illustrated reworking of Sophocles' *Antigone*.[4] [WorldCat](https://www.worldcat.org/search?q=Antigonick%20Anne%20Carson)
- 2013: *Nay Rather* (Nonfiction). [WorldCat](https://www.worldcat.org/search?q=Nay%20Rather%20Anne%20Carson)
- 2013: *Red Doc>* (Novel). Returns to the characters of *Autobiography of Red* as adults.[4] [WorldCat](https://www.worldcat.org/search?q=Red%20Doc%3E%20Anne%20Carson)
- 2014: *Iphigenia Among the Taurians* (Play). [WorldCat](https://www.worldcat.org/search?q=Iphigenia%20Among%20the%20Taurians%20Anne%20Carson)
- 2014: *The Albertine Workout* (Poetry). [WorldCat](https://www.worldcat.org/search?q=The%20Albertine%20Workout%20Anne%20Carson)
- 2015: *Antigone* (Play). [WorldCat](https://www.worldcat.org/search?q=Antigone%20Anne%20Carson)
- 2015: *Bakkhai* (Play). [WorldCat](https://www.worldcat.org/search?q=Bakkhai%20Anne%20Carson)
- 2016: *Float* (Poetry). [WorldCat](https://www.worldcat.org/search?q=Float%20Anne%20Carson)
- 2019: *Norma Jeane Baker of Troy* (Play). [WorldCat](https://www.worldcat.org/search?q=Norma%20Jeane%20Baker%20of%20Troy%20Anne%20Carson)
- 2021: *H of H Playbook* (Play). [WorldCat](https://www.worldcat.org/search?q=H%20of%20H%20Playbook%20Anne%20Carson)
- 2024: *Wrong Norma* (Poetry). Twenty-five prose pieces; a finalist for the National Book Award for Poetry.[6] ISBN 9780811230346. [Bookshop](https://bookshop.org/a/131187/9780811230346) · [WorldCat](https://www.worldcat.org/isbn/9780811230346)

## Latest news

- Oct. 8, 2026: The Swedish Academy awarded Carson the 2026 Nobel Prize in Literature "for her bold and inventive oeuvre that, in playful dialogue with the classical tradition," creates new forms for contemporary literature; the prize is worth 12 million Swedish crowns.[3]

## Adaptations and other media

### Stage

- *An Oresteia (Classic Stage Company)* (2009). Based on *An Oresteia*. The Classic Stage Company staged her *An Oresteia* in New York in 2009.[1]
- *Antigone (Ivo van Hove)* (2015). Based on *Antigone*. Ivo van Hove directed her translation with Juliette Binoche in the title role; it opened in Luxembourg in 2015 and toured to London, New York and Paris.[1]

## Timeline

- June 21, 1950: Born in Toronto, Ontario; her father was a banker, and she grew up in several small towns.[1]
- 1981: Completes a Ph.D. in Classics at the University of Toronto.[1]
- 1986: Publishes *Eros the Bittersweet*.[1]
- 1995: Publishes *Glass, Irony, and God*, which includes "The Glass Essay."[5]
- 1998: Publishes the novel in verse *Autobiography of Red*.[1]
- 2001: Becomes the first woman to win the T. S. Eliot Prize, for *The Beauty of the Husband*.[1]
- 2010: Publishes *Nox*, made after the death of her brother.[4]
- 2014: Becomes the first poet to win the Griffin Poetry Prize twice, for *Red Doc>*.[1]
- Oct. 8, 2026: Awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.[3]

## What's next

The Nobel Prize ceremony takes place in Stockholm on December 10.[4]

## Sources

1. [Anne Carson](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_Carson). Wikipedia. (reference)
2. [Anne Carson](https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/anne-carson). Poetry Foundation. (reference)
3. [Canadian poet and writer Anne Carson wins 2026 Nobel Prize in Literature](https://tribune.com.pk/story/2633703/canadian-poet-and-writer-anne-carson-wins-2026-nobel-prize-in-literature/). The Express Tribune. (news)
4. [Why Anne Carson won the 2026 Nobel Prize in Literature](https://www.thenationalnews.com/arts-culture/books/2026/10/08/why-anne-carson-won-the-2026-nobel-prize-in-literature/). The National. (news)
5. [Glass, Irony, And God](https://www.ndbooks.com/book/glass-irony-and-god/). New Directions. (primary record)
6. [Wrong Norma](https://www.porchlightbooks.com/products/wrong-norma-anne-carson-9780811230346). Porchlight Books. (website)