Anne Carson chosen for Nobel Prize in literature

The Swedish Academy chose Canadian writer Anne Carson for the Nobel Prize in literature on Thursday, October 8. She becomes the second Canadian recipient, following Alice Munro 13 years earlier. Carson's writing draws deeply on ancient Greek literature and culture while challenging conventional literary genres. Both Carson and fellow Canadian Margaret Atwood had been among the names frequently mentioned for this year's prize.

Carson's background is in the study of ancient Greek language and literature. Born in Toronto on June 21, 1950, she studied at the University of Toronto and later taught at McGill University, the University of Michigan and Princeton. She has also retranslated Greek classics into English. Her 2006 collection Grief Lessons brings together four Euripides tragedies whose characters confront loss, revenge, madness and collapsing family ties. Its taut language aims to convey the plays' strangeness and violent immediacy rather than adhere closely to the Greek.