15 Women Who Have Won the Nobel Prize for Literature
Why is Literature important? Basically, we are ‘literate’ if we know literature. This does not mean that we can read the alphabets and spell the words, but it also means we can understand what the words intend us to do so. Literature alters the way we orient to the world; it develops our analytical skills, viewing perspectives, judgements and opinions, so that we can evolve and grow as mature human beings. Literature inspires many authors like me and you to publish and print your own book, to leave a mark in the world. Therefore, literature also fuels creative career for human beings. However, gender discussions have been concrete part of the world of literature; once again, this issue stands stark in daylight while we find that only 16 women have become Nobel Laureates in Literature as compared to 101 men, in the same genre. Even though women are known to be more thoughtful, analytic, emotionally intelligent and recursive, it is clear that they have not received enough recognition in the Nobel world, in spite of producing commendable works. This could be due to lack of women in the workforce, women denied a profession, or misogyny in the system. However, it is worth taking inspiration from the few women who fought the evils of society and rose up the ladder of success.
Here are the stories of 15 women who were awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature-
Selma Lagerlöf– The Nobel Prize in Literature was started in 1901 and the first woman to receive this was Selma Lagerlof in 1909. Not only was Selma Lagerlöf the first woman to win the Nobel Prize in Literature, she was also the first woman admitted into The Swedish Academy, in 1914. A Swedish teacher and novelist, Lagerlöf’s work was influenced by her early experiences with children’s literature and by reading the Bible cover-to-cover, which she did at just 10-years-old. She was awarded the Nobel Prize “in appreciation of the lofty idealism, vivid imagination and spiritual perception that characterize her writings.” One of her prominent writings remain The Saga of Gosta Berling.
Grazia Deledda – Born in Sardinia, the Italian writer based most of her work on the people of her birthplace, focusing on themes of love, sin and family. She was the first Italian woman to win the prize. La Madre – the 1920 novel told the story of a Sardinian mother, whose son falls in love with a beautiful widow. Elias Portolu is another popular work of the writer.
Sigrid Undset- A Norwegian novelist deeply influenced by Catholicism, Sigrid Undset wrote primarily about the experiences of women, and specifically — as in the case of her best-known work, Kristin Lavransdatter — women of the Middle Ages. It’s this work especially for which she was awarded the Nobel, “principally for her powerful descriptions of Northern life during the Middle Ages.” She won it in 1928. She was forced to flee Europe for the United States in 1940, because of her vocal opposition to Nazi Germany.
Pearl Buck– The American-born writer spent most of her childhood in China, where most of her work is set. Buck was a prolific writer, penning more than 30 novels, plus biographies, autobiographies, non-fiction books and short story collections. For those of you who want to publish and print your own book, writing extensively is key to an author’s success, and that was proved by this hard-working lady. The Good Earth – the 1931 dramatic novel about village life in China won the Pulitzer Prize for the novel and was a best seller. She won the Nobel in 1938 for the same.
Gabriela Mistral- Locus Mujeres or Madwomen is one of her poetic collections. As the name suggests, the writer was full of powerful emotions, and looked towards creating revolution with her poems. The pseudonym of Chilean poet and diplomat Lucila Godoy Alcayaga, Gabriela Mistral was the first Latin American to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature, for “her lyric poetry which, inspired by powerful emotions, has made her name a symbol of the idealistic aspirations of the entire Latin American world.” Fun fact: she’s also the face pictured on the 5,000 Chilean peso.
Nelly Sachs- She grew up as a Jewish child in Germany, under the terror of the Nazis. Tormented and dumbfounded, she fled to Sweden and she was helped by Selma Lagerlof. The latter is supposed to have curbed the life of Nelly. She suffered with hallucinations and other kinds of mental illnesses throughout her life. The only vent was through her poignant poetry. She was awarded the Nobel for: “her outstanding lyrical and dramatic writing, which interprets Israel’s destiny with touching strength” in 1966.
Nadine Gordimer- Alfred Nobel called Gordimer’s work a “great benefit to humanity.” The South African-born writer focuses the bulk of her work on racial issues, such as apartheid in her native country. She gained an audience after her story A Watcher of the Dead was published in The New Yorker in 1951. The Conservationist – the 1974 novel about an rich white antihero living in South Africa was a joint winner of the Man Booker Prize for fiction.
Toni Morrison- This is a popular name for literature students these days who are taught Beloved, Song of Solomon or Home, as part of the curriculum for African-American Literature. American author Toni Morrison blends epic, poetic styling with plots that mainly center around African-Americans. Morrison’s first book was 1970’s The Bluest Eye, about a young black girl who wishes to have blue eyes. Beloved – the 1987 trilogy about a tortured African-American woman named Sethe won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction and was turned into a film starring Oprah Winfrey. Her stories reflected the African reality in a brave new world.
Wisława Szymborska- Polish poet and essayist Wisława Szymborska won the Nobel for “poetry that with ironic precision allows the historical and biological context to come to light in fragments of human reality” in 1996. She had once claimed no more than 2,000 people appreciate the art of poetry. Her first published poem was 1945’s I Am Looking for a Word. Map is a collection of some of her popular poems. Dwukropek – the 2006 collection, the writer’s last, was chosen the best book of 2006 in Poland.
Elfriede Jelinek- The Austrian novelist and playwright was set to become a musician before discovering her passion for literature. Her debut collection, Lisas Schatten (Lisa’s Shadow) in 1967, was well-received and set her on a path to literary fame. Jelinek’s work is usually focused on female sexuality and is often considered controversial. The Piano Teacher – the 1983 novel is about a piano teacher who gets in a sadomasochistic relationship with her student. She won the Nobel in 2004, and at the same time, regretted losing the relative anonymity that she had always enjoyed.
Doris Lessing- Doris Lessing’s geographic history is a unique one — born to British parents in Iran, she grew up in Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) before settling in the United Kingdom. If you recognize her, it’s probably for her now-feminist classic novel The Golden Notebook, which is a collection of the imagined diaries of writer and artist Anna Wulf and explores — as most of her work does — the interior lives of characters and women, the social pressures and the mental breakdowns. Of her and her, the Swedish Academy said: “that epicist of the female experience, who with skepticism, fire and visionary power has subjected a divided civilization to scrutiny.”
Herta Müller– Born in Romania, but living and writing in German, Herta Müller is a novelist and a poet, the creative mind behind novels like The Hunger Angel and even the film The Fox Has Always Been The Hunter. Her work, which has been translated into more than 20 languages, reads like political terror (if that were actually a genre.) Or, as the Swedish Academy said: “with the concentration of poetry and the frankness of prose, depicts the landscape of the dispossessed.” Her popular book, The Hunger Angel can be case study for authors who want to publish and print your own book, because her stories are powerful enough to create a global appeal.
Alice Munro– Canadian author Alice Munro, renowned for her short stories, was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature this year, marking it the 13th time in history that a woman has been given the award. If you’ve ever taken a college-level writing or literature class, chances are you’ve come across Alice Munro. She is significant as the “master of contemporary short stories”. She won the Nobel in 2013.
Svetlana Alexievich– A Belarusian investigative journalist and oral historian, Svetlana Alexievich has spent her career writing about the people who are often forgotten in the aftermath of war or disaster: mothers, children, women. She was the first Belarusian author awarded the prize, for what the Swedish Academy described as her “polyphonic writings, a monument to suffering and courage in our time” in 2015.
Olga Tokarczuk– In 2019, the Swedish Academy awarded two Nobel Prizes in Literatures, after a #MeToo scandal resulted in the postponement of the 2018 awards. That is why Olga Tokarczuk was officially announced as a Nobel Laureate in Oct. 2019, though she is technically the 2018 winner. Tokarczuk is beloved — and widely read — in her native Poland and beyond. In the United States, her work has been widely celebrated. Flights, released in its English translation in the U.S. in 2018, won the Man Booker International Award and was a finalist for the National Book Award for Translated Literature. Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead, published in the U.S. in 2019, was longlisted for the same award. The Swedish Academy attributed her win to “a narrative imagination that with encyclopedia passion represents the crossing of boundaries as a form of life.”
