The Nobel Committee for Literature is the

Nobel Committee A Nobel Committee is a working body responsible for most of the work involved in selecting Nobel Prize laureates. There are six awarding committees from four institutions, one for each Nobel Prize. Five of these committees are working bodies ...

responsible for evaluating the nominations and presents its recommendations to the

Swedish Academy The Swedish Academy (), founded in 1786 by King Gustav III, is one of the Royal Academies of Sweden. Its 18 members, who are elected for life, comprise the highest Swedish language authority. Outside Scandinavia, it is best known as the body t ...

, which then selects, through votation, the

Nobel Prize in Literature The Nobel Prize in Literature, here meaning ''for'' Literature (), is a Swedish literature prize that is awarded annually, since 1901, to an author from any country who has, in the words of the will of Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel, "in ...

. The committee members – usually five – are elected for three years among the Swedish Academy members, with the Permanent Secretary serving as an associate member. In assessing the qualifications of candidates, the committee invites the assistance of specially appointed expert advisers, which include translators, literary critics, and linguists.

Committee duties and deliberations

Every year in September, the Nobel Committee sends out nomination forms to hundreds of individuals and organizations qualified to nominate. Some uninvited nominations from other literary societies, academies, and individuals are also accepted. Such forms must be completed and submitted on or before January 31st, the Nobel Committee's deadline for submissions. From February to April, the Nobel Committee screens the nominations and presents a list for approval by the Swedish Academy. Immediately after the nominees are approved, the Committee evaluates and creates a list of 25 to 20 candidates for preliminary evaluation. After the deliberations, the Committee selects five priority candidates that they thoroughly assess specifically on their body of literary work and merits. From June to August, each Committee member prepares their respective findings and criticisms of the candidates. In September, the Academy members receive the Committee members' assessments of the finalists and discuss the literary merits of the different candidates' contributions. Within this month, the Committee again sends out nomination forms for the following year's deliberations. In October, days before the announcement, the Academy selects the Nobel laureate in Literature through votation. A candidate must receive more than half of the votes cast. It rarely happens that the Academy proposes another candidate aside from the Committee's finalists, which causes distress and conflicts among the members. In 2021 – the year when Tanzanian-born British author

Abdulrazak Gurnah Abdulrazak Gurnah (born 20 December 1948) is a Tanzanian-born British novelist and academic. He was born in the Sultanate of Zanzibar and moved to the United Kingdom in the 1960s as a refugee during the Zanzibar Revolution. His novels includ ...

won the prize – Committee member

Ellen Mattson Ellen Mattson (born 22 September 1962) is a Swedish novelist, playwright and literature critic, and a member of the Swedish Academy. Mattson was born in Uddevalla. She studied literature and language, and also piano at a folk high school in Vads ...

was asked about what criteria the Committee uses in selecting a laureate, she responded saying: Committee chair Anders Olsson also expressed his thoughts in October 2019 – the year American poet

Louise Glück Louise Elisabeth Glück ( ; April 22, 1943 – October 13, 2023) was an American poet and essayist. She won the 2020 Nobel Prize in Literature, whose judges praised "her unmistakable poetic voice that with austere beauty makes individual existe ...

won – of what they look for writer worthy of becoming a Nobel laureate, saying:

Current members

The following Swedish Academy members form the current Nobel Committee for Literature since 2024:

Former members

Carl David af Wirsén Carl David af Wirsén (9 December 1842 – 12 June 1912) was a Swedish poet, literary critic and the Swedish Academy's permanent secretary 1884–1912. Career Wirsén was born in Vallentuna, Uppland, to Karl Ture af Wirsén and Eleonore von ...

Chair 1900-1912 *

Carl Snoilsky Count Carl Johan Gustaf Snoilsky (8 September 1841 – 19 May 1903) was a Swedish diplomat and lyricist of probable Slovene descent. He was the most prominent early realist and was a member of the Swedish Academy. His life and work was a major ...

1900-1903 * Clas Theodor Odhner 1900-1903 *

Hans Hildebrand Hans Olof Hildebrand Hildebrand (5 April 1842 – 2 February 1913) was a Swedish archeologist. He is internationally known as one of the pioneers of the archaeological technique of typology (archaeology), typology. Biography Born in Stockholm, h ...

1903-1913 (Chair pro tempore 1912-1913) *

Erik Axel Karlfeldt Erik Axel Karlfeldt (20 July 1864 – 8 April 1931) was a Swedish poet whose highly symbolist poetry masquerading as regionalism was popular and won him the 1931 Nobel Prize in Literature posthumously after he had been nominated by Nathan Söd ...

1907-1931 *

Harald Hjärne Harald Gabriel Hjärne (2 May 1848, in Klastorp, Skövde – 6 January 1922, in Uppsala) was a Swedish historian. Hjärne held one of the chairs of history at Uppsala University from 1889 until 1913, and was a member of the Swedish Academy 1903 ...

Chair 1913-1921 *

Per Hallström Per August Leonard Hallström (29 September 1866 – 18 February 1960) was a Swedish author, short-story writer, dramatist, poet and member of the Swedish Academy. He joined the academy in 1908, and served as its Permanent Secretary from 1 ...

1913-1946 (Chair 1922-1946) *

Henrik Schück Henrik Schück (2 November 1855 – 3 October 1947) was a Swedish literary historian, university professor and author. Biography Johan Henrik Emil Schück was a professor at the Lund University 1890–1898. He was a professor at Uppsala Univers ...

1920-1936 *

Anders Österling Anders Österling (13 April 1884 – 13 December 1981) was a Swedish poet, critic and translator. In 1919 he was elected as a member of the Swedish Academy when he was 35 years old and served the Academy for 62 years, longer than any other mem ...

1921-1981 (Chair 1947-1970) *

Fredrik Böök Martin Fredrik Böök (May 12, 1883 in Kristianstad – December 2, 1961 in Copenhagen) was a Sweden, Swedish professor of literary history at Lund University, literary critic and writer. He wrote biographies and books on Swedish literature.An e ...

1929-1950 *

Hjalmar Hammarskjöld Knut Hjalmar Leonard Hammarskjöld (; 4 February 1862 – 12 October 1953) was a Swedish politician and scholar who served as the Prime Minister of Sweden from 1914 to 1917. He was a member of the Riksdag from 1923 to 1938 in the first chamber ...

1932-1946 *

Sigfrid Siwertz Sigfrid Siwertz (24 January 1882 – 26 November 1970) was a Swedish novelist and poet. He was born and died in Stockholm. A prolific writer, he wrote poetry, several plays and many short stories, but is best known for his novels. His early nove ...

1942-1963 *

Hjalmar Gullberg Hjalmar Gullberg (30 May 1898 – 19 July 1961) was a Swedish poet and translator. Career Gullberg was born in Malmö, Scania. As a student at Lund University, he was the editor of the student magazine Lundagård. He was the manager of ...

1947-1961 *

Eyvind Johnson Eyvind Johnson (29 July 1900 – 25 August 1976) was a Swedish novelist and short story writer. Regarded as the most groundbreaking novelist in modern Swedish literature he became a member of the Swedish Academy in 1957 and shared the 1974 Nob ...

1959-1972 *

Henry Olsson Karl Henry Olsson (18 April 1896 – 11 January 1985) was a Swedish literary scholar. He was a professor of literary history and poetics at Stockholm University and a member of the Swedish Academy. Early life Olsson was born in Köla parish ...

1960-1971 *

Karl Ragnar Gierow Karl Ragnar Knut Gierow (2 April 190430 October 1982) was a Swedish theater director, author and translator. Biography Gierow was born and grew up in Helsingborg. He enrolled at Lund University in 1922, and received a licentiate degree in 1934. ...

1963-1982 (Chair 1970-1980) *

Erik Lindegren Erik Lindegren (5 August 1910 – 31 May 1968) was a Swedish author, poet, critical writer and member of the Swedish Academy (1962–68, chair 17). Grandson of composer Johan Lindegren. Lindegren was born in Luleå, Norrbotten County, the son of ...

1964-1968 *

Lars Gyllensten Lars Johan Wictor Gyllensten (12 November 1921 – 25 May 2006) was a Swedish author and physician, and a member of the Swedish Academy. Gyllensten was born and grew up in a middle-class family in Stockholm, son of Carl Gyllensten and Ingrid ...

1968-1987 (Chair 1981-1987) *

Artur Lundkvist Nils Artur Lundkvist (3 March 1906 – 11 December 1991) was a Swedish writer, poet and literary critic. He was a member of the Swedish Academy from 1968. Artur Lundkvist published around 80 books, including poetry, prose poems, essays, shor ...

1969-1986 *

Johannes Edfelt Bo Johannes Edfelt (21 December 1904 – 27 August 1997) was a Swedish writer, poet, translator and literary critic. A native of Tibro, Edfelt was elected to be a member of the Swedish Academy in 1969, occupying seat No. 17. He succeeded Er ...

1972-1987 *

Östen Sjöstrand Östen Sjöstrand (16 June 1925 in Gothenburg – 13 May 2006) was a Sweden, Swedish poet, writer and translator. He became a member of the Swedish Academy in 1975 and was a member of the Academy's Nobel Committee in Literature, Nobel committee b ...

1979-1990 *

Kerstin Ekman Kerstin Lillemor Ekman (née Hjorth; born 27 August 1933) is a Swedish novelist. Life and career Kerstin Ekman wrote a string of successful detective novels (among others ''De tre små mästarna'' and ''Dödsklockan'') but later went on to psy ...

1983-1987 *

Sture Allén Sture Allén (31 December 1928 – 20 June 2022) was a Swedish professor of computational linguistics at the University of Gothenburg, who was the permanent secretary of the Swedish Academy between 1986 and 1999. Born in Gothenburg Gothen ...

1987-1999 *

Kjell Espmark Kjell Erik Espmark (19 February 1930 – 18 September 2022) was a Swedish writer, literary historian, member of the Swedish Academy, and Professor of the History of Literature at Stockholm University. He was elected to the Swedish Academy on 5 M ...

Chair 1987-2004 *

Katarina Frostenson Alma Katarina Frostenson Arnault (born 5 March 1953) is a Swedish poet and writer. She was a member of the Swedish Academy from 1992 to 2019. In 2003, Frostenson was made a Chevalier of the Legion of Honour in France in recognition of her se ...

2002-2015, associate member 2015-2018 *

Kristina Lugn Gunhild Bricken Kristina Lugn (; 14November 1948 – 9 May 2020)Jones, Evelyn.Författaren Kristina Lugn är död", Dagens Nyheter 9 May 2020. Retrieved 9 May 2020. was a Swedish poet and dramatist and member of the Swedish Academy. Early ...

2008-2020 *

Peter Englund Peter Mikael Englund (born 4 April 1957) is a Swedish author and historian. He focuses on writing non-fiction books and essays, mostly about the Swedish Empire and other historical events. Englund is known for his accessible writing style, whic ...

associate member 2009-2015 *

Sara Danius Sara Maria Danius (5 April 1962 – 12 October 2019) was a Swedish literary critic and philosopher, and a scholar of literature and aesthetics. Danius was professor of aesthetics at Södertörn University, docent of literature at Uppsala Univer ...

associate member 2015-2019 *

Sara Stridsberg Sara Brita Stridsberg (born 29 August 1972) is a Swedish author and playwright. Her first novel, ''Happy Sally'', was about Sally Bauer, who in 1939 had become the first Scandinavian woman to swim the English Channel. Her big international brea ...

springterm 2018 *

Jesper Svenbro Jesper Svenbro (born 10 March 1944) is a Swedish poet, classical philologist, and member of the Swedish Academy. Biography Svenbro was born in Landskrona, Scania, Sweden. He was educated at Lund University, where he was awarded a Ph.D. in 19 ...

2019-2020

References

{{Nobel Prizes Nobel Prize in Literature Swedish Academy Awards juries and committees