Lifetime body of work · International
The Nobel Prize in Literature
The world's most prestigious literary honour, awarded for an author's entire body of work rather than a single book. Laureates from 2000 onward.
Awarded by the Swedish Academy since 1901, the Nobel Prize in Literature recognises an author's whole body of work, across any language or form — novelists, poets, playwrights, essayists and, in 2016, a songwriter.
Because it honours a career rather than one title, we link each laureate to their author page here where we hold their books. The list covers 2000 to 2025; the Nobel organisation's site lists every laureate since 1901.
Winners
- 2000 Gao Xingjian
- 2001 V.S. Naipaul In our catalogue
- 2002 Imre Kertész
- 2003 J.M. Coetzee
- 2004 Elfriede Jelinek
- 2005 Harold Pinter
- 2006 Orhan Pamuk In our catalogue
- 2007 Doris Lessing In our catalogue
- 2008 J.M.G. Le Clézio
- 2009 Herta Müller
- 2010 Mario Vargas Llosa In our catalogue
- 2011 Tomas Tranströmer
- 2012 Mo Yan In our catalogue
- 2013 Alice Munro In our catalogue
- 2014 Patrick Modiano
- 2015 Svetlana Alexievich
- 2016 Bob Dylan
- 2017 Kazuo Ishiguro In our catalogue
- 2018 Olga Tokarczuk In our catalogue
- 2019 Peter Handke
- 2020 Louise Glück
- 2021 Abdulrazak Gurnah In our catalogue
- 2022 Annie Ernaux
- 2023 Jon Fosse
- 2024 Han Kang In our catalogue
- 2025 László Krasznahorkai
The 2018 prize was announced in 2019 (and is recorded as the 2018 award). The list covers 2000–2025.
Winners verified against the prize's official records. For the complete history, see the official The Nobel Prize in Literature site.
Common questions
Is the Nobel Prize in Literature for one book?
No — unlike most book prizes, it honours an author's entire body of work, which is why a laureate isn't tied to a single winning title.
Do you list every laureate?
We show laureates from 2000 onward and link to an author's page where we hold their books. The Nobel organisation's site lists every laureate since 1901.