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Nobel Prize Winners Trivia
Facts about the Nobel Prize for Literature Medal
Masters of Literature Without A Nobel
Leo Tolstoy | James Joyce | Marcel Proust | Virginia Woolf | Mark Twain | Henry James | Henrik Ibsen | Gertrude Stein | D. H. Lawrence | Robert Frost Four time winner of The Pulitzer Prize for Poetry: 1943, 1937, 1931, 1924!
English Language Nobel Laureates Literature
Years Without a Nobel Prize in Literature
1943 | 1942 | 1941 | 1940 | 1935 | 1918 | 1914
Youngest Nobel Literature Laureate
Rudyard Kipling, 1907, at age forty-two
Oldest Winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature
Christian Matthias Theodor Mommsen, 1902, age eighty-four (his birthday - November 30th was after the Nobel for Literature was announced)
The three African winners of the Nobel Prize for Literature, Wole Soyinka, Nadine Gordimer and Naguib Mahfouz, are Patrons of The Caine Prize for African Writing
Nobel Prize Refusals
1964 Jean-Paul Sartre France, honored for Fiction, Drama and Philosophy. (1905-1980) French - The only honoree to turn down the prize voluntarily. Sartre refused the Nobel Prize for literature on the grounds that such honors could interfere with a writer's responsibilities to his readers.
1958 Boris Pasternak USSR, Poetry and Fiction (1890-1960) Russian - Pasternak was forced by the Soviet Government to refuse The Nobel for Literature Award.
Years the Nobel Prize for Literature was Shared
1974 (shared) Eyvind Johnson Sweden, Fiction (1900-1976) Swedish Works of Eyvind Johnson and Harry Edmund Martinson Sweden, Fiction and Poetry (1904-1978) Swedish Writings of Harry Martinson
1966 Samuel Joseph Agnon (Shmuel Czaczkes) Israel, Fiction (1888-1970) - Hebrew Agnon has been incorrectly reported as one who refused the prize. Acceptance Speech and Nelly Sachs Germany-Sweden, Poetry (1891-1970) German
1917 Karl Gjellerup Denmark, Poetry (1857-1919) Danish and Henrik Pontoppidan Denmark, Fiction (1857-1943) Danish
1904 Frédéric Mistral France, Poetry (1830-1914) Spanish and José Echegary y Eizaguirre Spain, Drama (1832-1916) Spanish
Women Chosen for The Nobel Prize in Literature
Wislawa Szymborska Poland 1996
Toni Morrison USA 1993
Nadine Gordimer South Africa 1991
Nelly Sachs Germany Sweden 1966
Gabriela Mistral Chile 1945
Pearl S. Buck USA 1938
Sigrid Undset Norway 1928
Grazia Deledda Italy 1926
Selma Lagerlöf Sweden 1909
As a nation, France claims the highest number of Literature Laureates with 12. The Laureates' nations are determined by where most of their work was done, not by country of birth, education or residence.
Just a sampling, read more in The Nobel Prize : A History of Genius, Controversy and Prestige | Hardcover Burton Feldman. The book is superb!
How the Nobel Laureates are Chosen
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