Which Country Has the Most Nobel Laureates in Literature?
There is hardly any speculation about the status of Nobel Prize. The people who outperform in their fields and have creative or intellectual achievements are honored by this prestigious award.
Nobel Prize was initiated in 1901 and is given in honor of Alfred Nobel who was a Swedish chemist, engineer, inventor, businessman, and philanthropist. Since then it is the most prestigious award that outweighs all other awards. It sets the excellence status for generations to come. Nobel Prize is given for various fields including medicine, mathematics, chemistry, literature, peace, physiology, physics.
Nobel Prize is given for literature as well. Literature is the field of study that continues to travel through time and space. It reveals the holistic picture of the society- historic, social, cultural, political, and economic fronts. By studying literature, one becomes capable of interpreting things in a manner which perhaps none but they can. Literature is not based on hard and fast rules. It accepts the individual perspectives, provided a due support to one’s argument is presented.
Here is a table representing the winners of Nobel Prize in literature, with the country winning the maximum awards on the top.
| Year | Laureate | Country | Language(s) | Genre(s) |
| 1901 | Sully Prudhomme | France | French | poetry, essay |
| 1904 | Frédéric Mistral | France | Provençal | poetry, philology |
| 1915 | Romain Rolland | France | French | novel |
| 1921 | Anatole France | France | French | novel, poetry |
| 1927 | Henri Bergson | France | French | philosophy |
| 1933 | Ivan Bunin | France (Born in Russian Empire) | Russian | short story, poetry, novel |
| 1937 | Roger Martin du Gard | France | French | novel |
| 1947 | André Gide | France | French | novel, essay |
| 1952 | François Mauriac | France | French | novel, short story |
| 1957 | Albert Camus | France (Born in French Algeria) | French | novel, short story, drama, philosophy, essay |
| 1960 | Saint-John Perse | France (Born in Guadeloupe) | French | poetry |
| 1964 | Jean-Paul Sartre | France | French | novel, philosophy, drama, literary criticism, screenplay |
| 1985 | Claude Simon | France (Born in French Madagascar) | French | novel |
| 2000 | Gao Xingjian | France (since 1998) China (1940–1998) | Chinese | novel, drama, literary criticism |
| 2008 | J. M. G. Le Clézio | France Mauritius | French | novel, short story, essay, translation |
| 2014 | Patrick Modiano | France | French | novel |
| 1907 | Rudyard Kipling | United Kingdom | English | novel, short story, poetry |
| 1932 | John Galsworthy | United Kingdom | English | novel |
| 1948 | T. S. Eliot | United Kingdom (Born in the United States) | English | poetry |
| 1950 | Bertrand Russell | United Kingdom | English | philosophy |
| 1953 | Winston Churchill | United Kingdom | English | history, essay, memoirs |
| 1981 | Elias Canetti | United Kingdom (Born in Bulgaria) | German | novel, drama, memoirs, essay |
| 1983 | William Golding | United Kingdom | English | novel, poetry, drama |
| 2001 | V. S. Naipaul | United Kingdom (Born in Trinidad & Tobago) | English | novel, essay |
| 2005 | Harold Pinter | United Kingdom | English | drama, screenplay |
| 2007 | Doris Lessing | United Kingdom (Born in Iran) | English | novel, drama, poetry, short story, memoirs |
| 1981 | Elias Canetti | United Kingdom (Born in Bulgaria) | German | novel, drama, memoirs, essay |
| 2017 | Kazuo Ishiguro | United Kingdom (born in Japan) | English | novel |
| 1930 | Sinclair Lewis | the United States | English | novel, short story, drama |
| 1936 | Eugene O’Neill | the United States | English | drama |
| 1938 | Pearl S. Buck | the United States | English | novel, biography |
| 1949 | William Faulkner | the United States | English | novel, short story |
| 1954 | Ernest Hemingway | the United States | English | novel, short story, screenplay |
| 1962 | John Steinbeck | the United States | English | novel, short story, screenplay |
| 1993 | Toni Morrison | the United States | English | novel |
| 2016 | Bob Dylan | the United States | English | poetry, songwriting |
| 1987 | Joseph Brodsky | the United States (Born in the Soviet Union) | Russian and English | poetry, essay |
| 1976 | Saul Bellow | the United States (Born in Canada) | English | novel, short story |
| 1978 | Isaac Bashevis Singer | the United States (Born in Poland) | Yiddish | novel, short story, memoirs |
| 1978 | Isaac Bashevis Singer | the United States (Born in Poland) | Yiddish | novel, short story, memoirs |
| 1902 | Theodor Mommsen | Germany | German | history, law |
| 1908 | Rudolf Christoph Eucken | Germany | German | philosophy |
| 1910 | Paul von Heyse | Germany | German | poetry, drama, novel, short story |
| 1912 | Gerhart Hauptmann | Germany | German | drama, novel |
| 1929 | Thomas Mann | Germany | German | novel, short story, essay |
| 1972 | Heinrich Böll | West Germany | German | novel, short story |
| 1999 | Günter Grass | Germany | German | novel, drama, poetry |
| 2009 | Herta Müller | Germany (Born in Romania) | German | novel, poetry |
| 1909 | Selma Lagerlöf | Sweden | Swedish | novel, short story |
| 1916 | Verner von Heidenstam | Sweden | Swedish | poetry, novel |
| 1931 | Erik Axel Karlfeldt | Sweden | Swedish | poetry |
| 1951 | Pär Lagerkvist | Sweden | Swedish | poetry, novel, short story, drama |
| 1966 | Nelly Sachs | Sweden (Born in Germany) | German | poetry, drama |
| 1974 | Eyvind Johnson | Sweden | Swedish | novel |
| 1974 | Harry Martinson | Sweden | Swedish | poetry, novel, drama |
| 2011 | Tomas Tranströmer | Sweden | Swedish | poetry, translation |
| 1906 | Giosuè Carducci | Italy | Italian | poetry |
| 1926 | Grazia Deledda | Italy | Italian | poetry, novel |
| 1934 | Luigi Pirandello | Italy | Italian | drama, novel, short story |
| 1959 | Salvatore Quasimodo | Italy | Italian | poetry |
| 1975 | Eugenio Montale | Italy | Italian | poetry |
| 1997 | Dario Fo | Italy | Italian | drama |
| 1904 | José Echegaray | Spain | Spanish | drama |
| 1922 | Jacinto Benavente | Spain | Spanish | drama |
| 1956 | Juan Ramón Jiménez | Spain | Spanish | poetry |
| 1977 | Vicente Aleixandre | Spain | Spanish | poetry |
| 1989 | Camilo José Cela | Spain | Spanish | novel, short story |
| 2010 | Mario Vargas Llosa | Peru Spain | Spanish | novel, short story, essay, drama, memoirs |
| 1905 | Henryk Sienkiewicz | Poland (born in Russian Empire) | Polish | novel |
| 1924 | Władysław Reymont | Poland | Polish | novel |
| 1980 | Czesław Miłosz | Poland (born in Lithuania) | Polish | poetry, essay |
| 1996 | Wisława Szymborska | Poland | Polish | poetry |
| 1923 | William Butler Yeats | Ireland | English | poetry |
| 1925 | George Bernard Shaw | Ireland | English | drama, literary criticism |
| 1969 | Samuel Beckett | Ireland | English and French | novel, drama, poetry |
| 1995 | Seamus Heaney | Ireland (Born in Northern Ireland) | English | poetry |
| 1958 | Boris Pasternak | Russia | Russian | novel, poetry, translation |
| 1917 | Karl Adolph Gjellerup | Denmark | Danish | poetry |
| Henrik Pontoppidan | Denmark | Danish | novel | |
| 1944 | Johannes Vilhelm Jensen | Denmark | Danish | novel, short story |
| 1903 | Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson | Norway | Norwegian | poetry, novel, drama |
| 1920 | Knut Hamsun | Norway | Norwegian | novel |
| 1928 | Sigrid Undset | Norway (Born in Denmark) | Norwegian | novel |
| 1945 | Gabriela Mistral | Chile | Spanish | poetry |
| 1971 | Pablo Neruda | Chile | Spanish | poetry |
| 2000 | Gao Xingjian | France (since 1998) China (1940–1998) | Chinese | novel, drama, literary criticism |
| 2012 | Mo Yan | China | Chinese | novel, short story |
| 1963 | Giorgos Seferis | Greece (Born in theOttoman Empire) | Greek | poetry, essay, memoirs |
| 1979 | Odysseas Elytis | Greece | Greek | poetry, essay |
| 1968 | Yasunari Kawabata | Japan | Japanese | novel, short story |
| 1994 | Kenzaburō Ōe | Japan | Japanese | novel, short story |
| 1991 | Nadine Gordimer | South Africa | English | novel, short story, essay |
| 2003 | J. M. Coetzee | South Africa ( Australian citizen) | English | novel, essay, translation |
| 1919 | Carl Spitteler | Switzerland | German | poetry |
| 1946 | Hermann Hesse | Switzerland (Born in Germany) | German | novel, poetry |
| 2004 | Elfriede Jelinek | Austria | German | novel, drama |
| 1973 | Patrick White | Australia (Born in the United Kingdom) | English | novel, short story, drama |
| 2015 | Svetlana Alexievich | Belarus (Born in Ukraine) | Russian | history, essay |
| 1911 | Maurice Maeterlinck | Belgium | French | drama, poetry, essay |
| 2013 | Alice Munro | Canada | English | short story |
| 1982 | Gabriel García Márquez | Colombia | Spanish | novel, short story, screenplay |
| 1984 | Jaroslav Seifert | Czechoslovakia (Born in Austria-Hungary) | Czech | poetry |
| 1988 | Naguib Mahfouz | Egypt | Arabic | novel |
| 1939 | Frans Eemil Sillanpää | Finland | Finnish | novel |
| 1967 | Miguel Ángel Asturias | Guatemala | Spanish | novel, poetry |
| 2002 | Imre Kertész | Hungary | Hungarian | novel |
| 1955 | Halldór Laxness | Iceland | Icelandic | novel, short story, drama, poetry |
| 1913 | Rabindranath Tagore | India (formerly British Raj) | Bengali and English | poetry, novel, drama, short story, music |
| 1966 | Shmuel Yosef Agnon | Israel (Born in Austria-Hungary) | Hebrew | novel, short story |
| 2008 | J. M. G. Le Clézio | France Mauritius | French | novel, short story, essay, translation |
| 1990 | Octavio Paz | Mexico | Spanish | poetry, essay |
| 1986 | Wole Soyinka | Nigeria | English | drama, novel, poetry |
| 2010 | Mario Vargas Llosa | Peru Spain | Spanish | novel, short story, essay, drama, memoirs |
| 1998 | José Saramago | Portugal | Portuguese | novel, drama, poetry |
| 1992 | Derek Walcott | Saint Lucia | English | poetry, drama |
| 2006 | Orhan Pamuk | Turkey | Turkish | novel, screenplay, essay |
| 1961 | Ivo Andrić | Yugoslavia (Born in Austria-Hungary) | Serbo-Croatian[66] | novel, short story |
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