Canadian poet and essayist Anne Carson wins Nobel Prize in literature

Canadian poet and essayist Anne Carson won the Nobel Prize in literature Thursday “for her bold and inventive oeuvre that, in playful dialogue with the classical tradition, has created new forms for contemporary literature.”

Ingrid Carlberg, permanent secretary of the Swedish Academy, said the author was in Iceland “listening to the wind” when the academy reached her to notify her of the win.

Toronto-born Carson draws on themes and stories from ancient Greek and Roman literature for works that often blend elements of poetry, essay and fiction.

Her books include “Eros the Bittersweet,” a look at the pleasure and pain of desire in ancient Greek literature, verse novel “Autobiography of Red,” “Men in the Off Hours,” a collection of poetry and prose that won Canada’s Griffin Prize for poetry in 2001 and “Norma Jeane Baker of Troy,” which compares Marilyn Monroe and Helen of Troy.

The prize was announced by the Swedish Academy in Stockholm.

Last year, Hungarian writer Laszlo Krasznahorkai , whose surreal and anarchic novels combine a bleak world view with mordant humor, won the Nobel Prize in literature for work the judges said upholds the power of art in the midst of “apocalyptic terror.”

Three science awards were announced earlier this week. The Nobel for medicine went to three scientists whose work led to a tool that uses light to help unravel how the brain works. The physics award recognized a scientist’s efforts to demystify a rare group of neutrinos. The chemistry prize recognized two scientists for untangling mysterious mirror images in molecules, a discovery that has been used to develop countless drugs.

This week ends with Friday's peace prize. The Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences will be announced Monday.

The prize money this year is 12 million Swedish kronor (about $1.2 million), whether for an individual, small group of laureates or organization.