Anne Carson has won the Nobel Prize in Literature.
A Canadian poet and University of Toronto alumna, Carson was awarded the international prize for "her bold and inventive oeuvre that, in playful dialogue with the classical tradition, has created new forms for contemporary literature," according to the Nobel committee.
"On behalf of the University of Toronto, I am absolutely delighted to congratulate alumna Anne Carson on winning the 2026 Nobel Prize in Literature," said U of T President Melanie Woodin. "This is a very proud moment for our global alumni community and for the entire university."
Carson is the fifth U of T faculty member to win a Nobel Prize/joins several members of the U of T community who have won the prestigious award over the years.
Geoffrey Hinton, a U of T University Professor emeritus, was one of two researchers awarded the 2024 Nobel Prize in Physics for foundational discoveries and inventions in the field of artificial intelligence that enable machine learning with artificial neural networks.
John Polanyi, also a University Professor emeritus, was one of three winners of the 1986 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the development of the new field of reaction dynamics. In 1923, Sir Frederick Banting and J.J.R. Macleod won a Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their work with Charles Best to isolate insulin.
Other members of the U of T community, including several alumni, have received or been associated with the international honour over the years.
Oliver Smithies, a past professor at U of T, was a joint winner of the 2007 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for discovering the "principles for introducing specific gene modifications in mice by the use of embryonic stem cells."
Also in 2007, Professor Robert Jefferies shared in the Nobel Peace Prize awarded to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), in which he was a key Canadian representative as an international leader in Arctic science and global change biology.
In 1999, U of T Professor James Orbinski accepted the Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of Doctors Without Borders, recognized for its humanitarian work.
Similarly, anti-nuclear activist and U of T alumna Setsuko Thurlow accepted the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize in Norway on behalf of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN).
In 2001, Michael Spence, an alumnus of the University of Toronto Schools, was one of three joint winners of the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel for his contributions to analyses of markets with asymmetric information.
Bertram Brockhouse, who completed two degrees at U of T, was a co-winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1994 for the development of neutron scattering techniques for studies of condensed matter.
Arthur Schawlow, an alumnus, was one of three winners of the 1981 Nobel Prize in Physics for his contribution to the development of laser spectroscopy.
In 1998, U of T alumnus Walter Kohn was a co-winner of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the development of density-functional theory.
Former Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson, who received a bachelor's degree from U of T, won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1957.
More to come ...
