Customers browse books by the 2026 Nobel Prize in Literature winner Anne Carson at a major bookstore in Seoul on Oct. 9.YONHAP
As it does every October, the Swedish Academy has sent ripples through the global publishing market. In Korea, sales of books by Canadian poet Anne Carson, this year's Nobel Prize in Literature winner, have skyrocketed following the announcement of the award.
Sales of Carson's books surged 138.1-fold between 8 p.m. Thursday, when the Nobel Prize winner was announced, and 9 a.m. Friday, compared with the same period 24 hours earlier, Kyobo Book Center said.
Online bookstore Yes24 reported an even sharper increase, with sales of Carson's books jumping 183.5-fold between 8 p.m. Thursday and 8 a.m. Friday compared to the same period 24 hours earlier.
Despite the announcement coming as late as 8 p.m. in Korea, Carson's best-known work, "Autobiography of Red" (1998), topped the daily best-seller charts at both Kyobo Book Centre and Yes24 on Thursday and also held the No. 1 spot on both bookstores' real-time best-seller charts as of 11:30 a.m. Friday.
Nobel Prize laureate in literature Anne Carson looks surprised while speaking on the phone in Iceland in a photo taken by her husband, Robert Currie, and shared on Oct. 8.ROBERT CURRIE/THE NOBEL PRIZE
The novel reimagines Geryon, a monster from Greek mythology slain by Heracles, as a troubled boy in the modern world.
"Carson's books have remained at the top of our real-time best-seller chart since 8 p.m. yesterday," a Yes24 official said.
Other Carson titles also climbed Kyobo's real-time rankings, with "Nox" (2010) at No. 3, "The Beauty of the Husband" (2001) at No. 7 and "Eros the Bittersweet” (1986) at No. 9.
At online bookstore Aladin, Carson's books occupied all four top spots on the real-time best-seller chart as of 11:30 a.m.
Books by Canadian poet Anne Carson, the winner of the 2026 Nobel Prize in Literature, are displayed at a major bookstore in Seoul on Oct. 9.NEWS1
All of these titles have since switched to preorder status. Deliveries are scheduled for Tuesday or Wednesday.
"Readers have been seeking out her books in large numbers since Thursday evening, and we've sold out of our stock," said Yoo Sung-won, a sales head at publisher Nanda, which has published four of Carson's books in Korean.
"Printing houses are closed today because it’s Hangul Day, so we will print more copies on Monday and ship them out," Yoo said.
Nanda is also preparing a lecture series titled "Reading Anne Carson in Depth" (translated) with poet Hwang Yu-won, who translated Carson's works into Korean.
Kyobo Book Centre set up a special display Friday morning at its Gwanghwamun branch in central Seoul to celebrate Carson's Nobel Prize win.
The bookstore reportedly struggled to put together the display because of limited stock. Although it displayed all available copies, most sold out in the morning. Staff have been restocking the shelves as more copies arrive.
Canadian poet Anne Carson performs her work "Antigonick" (2012) at the Moderna Museet art gallery in Stockholm, Sweden, in this file photograph dated May 8, 2015.REUTERS/YONHAP
The Canadian poet and essayist was announced as the Nobel laureate in literature by the Swedish Academy Thursday.
The academy cited her work as "bold and inventive oeuvre that, in playful dialogue with the classical tradition, has created new forms for contemporary literature."
Carson is the first Canadian writer to win the Nobel Prize in Literature in 13 years, since Alice Munro in 2013, and the 19th woman to receive the award out of the 123 literature laureates.
Born in Toronto in 1950, Carson developed a passion for the classics in high school after learning ancient Greek from her Latin teacher. After earning a Ph.D. in Classics, Carson has studied and taught classical philology, history, anthropology, and comparative literature at institutions including McGill University in Canada and Princeton University and Cornell University in the United States.
In an interview with the Nobel Prize organization shortly after the announcement, Carson was asked where she would suggest readers start with her works.
“I don’t know,” she said. “Most people read the 'Autobiography of Red,' it seems accessible. But I don’t know. Start in the middle, I always say.”
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
