Canadian poet and writer Anne Carson has won the 2026 Nobel Prize in Literature, the Swedish Academy announced on Thursday.

Carson, 76, received the prize “for her bold and inventive oeuvre that, in playful dialogue with the classical tradition, has created new forms for contemporary literature.” She will receive 12 million Swedish kronor, about $1.2 million.

Carson is best known for blending poetry, essays, and translations of ancient Greek texts. Her book “Autobiography of Red” (1998) became a modern classic. She also wrote “The Beauty of the Husband,” “Nox,” and “Norma Jeane Baker of Troy.”

The Academy called her work playful yet serious. She mixes old myths with new ideas, and her books often blur the line between poems and essays. She has also translated the Greek poet Sappho.

Carson was in Iceland when officials called her with the news. She said she was “listening to the wind.” She joins past winners like Alice Munro, Bob Dylan, and Ernest Hemingway. Last year’s winner was Hungarian writer Laszlo Krasznahorkai.

The Literature prize is one of five Nobel Prizes. It is given each year to a writer whose work has been outstanding in an ideal direction.