By Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo
TORONTO, Oct 8 (Reuters) – Poet and writer Anne Carson won the Nobel Prize in Literature on Thursday, spurring celebrations in her native Canada, a country that has long lived in the shadow of its southern neighbor but is enjoying heightened global attention as a foil to President Donald Trump’s America.
Michael Cobb, an English professor at the University of Toronto who has taught Carson’s work for nearly 25 years, said the prize coincided with a period of growing international curiosity about Canada, recalling a recent trip to Europe.
“I think it’s just wonderfully serendipitous,” he said. “It contributes to this idea that Canada is a very distinct and interesting culture that’s different from the United States.”
It hasn’t always been this way. Carson herself noted in a 2000 interview with the Globe and Mail that Canadians generally only won awards at home after being honored in the US.
“It’s typical of Canadians,” she said at the time. “You have to win awards outside this country before they’ll recognize you.”
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has gained global fame as one of few leaders to retaliate against Trump’s tariffs and call for new global alliances. He has been rewarded with consistently high approval ratings at home, where Canadians are relishing a new-found patriotism.
“With wit, imagination, and a style entirely her own, Canadian poet Anne Carson has reimagined the classics,” Carney said in a statement. “She has brought ancient stories to new audiences and transformed the way we think about literature.”
“An extraordinary achievement and a proud moment for Canada,” he added.
Carson earned bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees at the University of Toronto, and taught at both Canadian and US universities. She was in Iceland, where she has a home, on Thursday.
Carson is the third Canada-born writer to win the Nobel Prize in Literature, following Saul Bellow (1976), who was born in Quebec and later became an American citizen, and Alice Munro (2013).
Elizabeth Harvey, professor emerita of English at the University of Toronto who is writing a book on Carson, said Carson had been a contender for the prize for a number of years.
Harvey recalled asking her several years ago whether she expected to win the Nobel Prize. Carson responded with characteristic modesty, joking that some names appear on prediction lists “because they need the people who aren’t going to win,” Harvey said. “I hope she is as surprised, thrilled and delighted as her readers and colleagues are,” she said.
Thomas Chirvella, a 23-year-old University of Toronto student, said Carson’s recognition underscored Canada’s cultural influence beyond its borders.
“It shows that what we’re doing here at this university can have an impact on people on a global scale,” he said.
(Reporting by Wa Lone; editing by Caroline Stauffer and Sanjeev Miglani)
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