Complete list of American writers who have won the Nobel Prize in Literature

The Nobel Committee has been handing out the Nobel Prize in Literature since 1901. Who, if anyone, shall receive the award is decided by the Swedish Academy annually according to the dictates of the 1895 will of Alfred Nobel.

Winners can come from any country but must have “produced the most outstanding work in an idealistic direction.” The award is based on an author’s body of work as a whole but sometimes a particularly noteworthy individual work propels an author to the top of the Nobel Committee’s list.

Complete list of American writers who have won the Nobel Prize in Literature

As of 2022, the Nobel Prize in Literature has been awarded to 119 individuals, 12 of whom are from or resided in the United States at the time of receiving the honor. The winner of 2023 Nobel Prize in Literature will be announced Thursday, 5 October, at 1:00 pm CEST / 7:00 am ET at the earliest. Here’s are the Americans that have been given the honor in the past.

1930: Sinclair Lewis (1885–1951)

Sinclair Lewis became the first American to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1930. The novelist, short-story writer, and playwright was given the award “for his vigorous and graphic art of description and his ability to create, with wit and humour, new types of characters.” The native of Minnesota wrote six popular novels which were critical of American capitalism and materialism during the interwar period.

1936 Eugene O’Neill (1888–1953)

Eugene O’Neill was an American playwright born in New York City. His theatrical dramas were among the first to import the drama techniques of realism into the United States. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1936 “for the power, honesty and deep-felt emotions of his dramatic works, which embody an original concept of tragedy.”

1938 Pearl Buck (1892–1973)

Pearl Buck was born in West Virginia but spent much of her life in China until her early forties. Her time there she said upon accepting the 1938 Nobel Prize in Literature influenced her “knowledge of story, of how to tell and write stories.” The American writer and novelist was given the award “for her rich and truly epic descriptions of peasant life in China and for her biographical masterpieces.”

1949 William Faulkner (1897–1962)

William Faulkner was a novelist, short-story writer from Mississippi who received the 1949 Nobel Prize in Literature “for his powerful and artistically unique contribution to the modern American novel.”

1954 Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961)

Ernest Hemingway started his writing career as a journalist before becoming a novelist. As well, he was a short-story writer and playwright who received the 1954 Nobel Prize in Literature “for his mastery of the art of narrative, most recently demonstrated in The Old Man and the Sea, and for the influence that he has exerted on contemporary style.”

1962 John Steinbeck (1902–1968)

John Steinbeck was born in Salinas in central California where many of his works took place. He was a novelist, short-story writer and playwright who was recognized by the Swedish Academy “for his realistic and imaginative writings, combining as they do sympathetic humour and keen social perception.” The choice for the 1962 Nobel Prize in Literature was highly criticized by Swedish and American literary critics alike.

1976 Saul Bellow (1915–2005)

Born in Quebec, Saul Bellow moved with his family to the westside of Chicago, Illinois when he was a boy. The acclaimed novelist and short-story writer was awarded the 1976 Nobel Prize in Literature “for the human understanding and subtle analysis of contemporary culture that are combined in his work.”

1978 Isaac Bashevis Singer (1902–1991)

Born in Poland, Isaac Bashevis Singer immigrated to the United States four years before the Nazi invasion of his birth country. He wrote all his work in Yiddish, most of which was later translated into English and then on to other languages. In 1978, the Swedish Academy chose the novelist, short-story writer and memoirist for the Nobel Prize in Literature “for his impassioned narrative art which, with roots in a Polish-Jewish cultural tradition, brings universal human conditions to life.”

1987 Joseph Brodsky (1940–1996)

Joseph Brodsky was born in Soviet Russian Leningrad but was expelled from his homeland in 1972 after running afoul of the authorities. He settled in the United States where he was residing when he was awarded the 1987 Nobel Prize in Literature “for an all-embracing authorship, imbued with clarity of thought and poetic intensity.” When asked whether he was American or Russian, he responded: “I’m Jewish; a Russian poet, an English essayist – and, of course, an American citizen.”

1993 Toni Morrison (1931–2019)

Toni Morrison is an American novelist originally from Ohio who was awarded the 1993 Nobel Prize in Literature whose “novels characterized by visionary force and poetic import, gives life to an essential aspect of American reality.”

2016 Bob Dylan (b. 1941)

Bob Dylan was also a controversial selection when he was awarded the 2016 Nobel Prize in Literature. The drifter musician and poet native of Minnesota was credited with “having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition.”

2020 Louise Glück (b. 1943)

Louise Glück is the most recent American to be recognized by the Swedish Academy. The poet and essayist born in New York City was awarded the 2020 Nobel Prize in Literature “for her unmistakable poetic voice that with austere beauty makes individual existence universal.”