The table provides a list of winners of the Nobel Prize for Literature.Nobel Prize winners by category (literature)yearnamecountry*literary area*Nationality given is the citizenship of the recipient at the time the award was made. Prizes may be withheld or not awarded in years when no worthy recipient can be found or when the world situation (e.g., World Wars I and II) prevents the gathering of information needed to reach a decision. **Prize awarded in 2019. 1901 France poet 1902 Germany historian 1903 Norway novelist, poet, dramatist 1904 Spain dramatist France poet 1905 Poland novelist 1906 Italy poet 1907 U.K. poet, novelist 1908 Germany philosopher 1909 Sweden novelist 1910 Germany poet, novelist, dramatist 1911 Belgium dramatist 1912 Germany dramatist 1913 India poet 1915 France novelist 1916 Sweden poet 1917 Denmark novelist Denmark novelist 1918 (declined) Sweden poet 1919 Switzerland poet, novelist 1920 Norway novelist 1921 France novelist 1922 Spain dramatist 1923 Ireland poet 1924 Poland novelist 1925 Ireland dramatist 1926 Italy novelist 1927 France philosopher 1928 Norway novelist 1929 Germany novelist 1930 U.S. novelist 1931 (posthumous award) Sweden poet 1932 U.K. novelist 1933 U.S.S.R. poet, novelist 1934 Italy dramatist 1936 U.S. dramatist 1937 France novelist 1938 U.S. novelist 1939 Finland novelist 1944 Denmark novelist 1945 Chile poet 1946 Switzerland novelist 1947 France novelist, essayist 1948 U.K. poet, critic 1949 U.S. novelist 1950 U.K. philosopher 1951 Sweden novelist 1952 France poet, novelist, dramatist 1953 U.K. historian, orator 1954 U.S. novelist 1955 Iceland novelist 1956 Spain poet 1957 France novelist, dramatist 1958 (declined) U.S.S.R. novelist, poet 1959 Italy poet 1960 France poet 1961 Yugoslavia novelist 1962 U.S. novelist 1963 Greece poet 1964 (declined) France philosopher, dramatist 1965 U.S.S.R. novelist 1966 Israel novelist Sweden poet 1967 Guatemala novelist 1968 Japan novelist 1969 Ireland novelist, dramatist 1970 U.S.S.R. novelist 1971 Chile poet 1972 West Germany novelist 1973 Australia novelist 1974 Sweden novelist Sweden novelist, poet 1975 Italy poet 1976 U.S. novelist 1977 Spain poet 1978 U.S. novelist 1979 Greece poet 1980 U.S. poet 1981 Bulgaria novelist, essayist 1982 Colombia novelist, journalist, social critic 1983 U.K. novelist 1984 Czechoslovakia poet 1985 France novelist 1986 Nigeria dramatist, poet 1987 U.S. poet, essayist 1988 Egypt novelist 1989 Spain novelist 1990 Mexico poet, essayist 1991 South Africa novelist 1992 Saint Lucia poet 1993 U.S. novelist 1994 Japan novelist 1995 Ireland poet 1996 Poland poet 1997 Italy dramatist, actor 1998 Portugal novelist 1999 Germany novelist 2000 France novelist, dramatist 2001 Trinidad novelist 2002 Hungary novelist 2003 South Africa novelist 2004 Austria novelist, dramatist 2005 U.K. dramatist 2006 Turkey novelist 2007 U.K. novelist 2008 France novelist, essayist 2009 Germany novelist 2010 Peru novelist, dramatist 2011 Sweden poet 2012 China novelist, short-story writer 2013 Canada short-story writer 2014 France novelist 2015 Belarus journalist, prose writer 2016 U.S. singer, songwriter 2017 U.K. novelist 2018** Poland novelist, poet, essayist 2019 Austria novelist, poet, essayist, playwright 2020 U.S. poet 2021 Tanzania novelist 2022 France novelist, memoirist 2023 Norway novelist, playwright, poet 2024 South Korea novelist , As of 2024, the Nobel Prize in Literature has been awarded to 121 individuals. [5] 18 women have been awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, the second highest number of any of the Nobel Prizes behind the Nobel Peace Prize. [6][7] As of 2024, there have been 29 English-speaking laureates of the Nobel Prize in Literature, followed by French with , The Nobel Prize in Literature is one of many Nobel Prizes given in honor of Alfred Nobel. Every year, a writer is chosen by the Swedish Academy to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature..