Year Laureate Country Language(s) Citation Genre(s)

1920 Knut Hamsun Norway Norwegian "for his monumental work, Growth of the Soil"[29] novel

Władysław
1924 Poland Polish "for his great national epic, The Peasants"[33] novel
Reymont

United
Kingdom
1948 T. S. Eliot English "for his outstanding, pioneer contribution to present-day poetry" [52] poetry
(Born in the
United States)

United "in recognition of his varied and significant writings in which he champions
1950 Bertrand Russell English philosophy
Kingdom humanitarian ideals and freedom of thought"[54]

Yasunari "for his narrative mastery, which with great sensibility expresses the essence
1968 Japan Japanese novel, short story
Kawabata of the Japanese mind"[73]

"for a poetry that with the action of an elemental force brings alive a
1971 Pablo Neruda Chile Spanish poetry
continent's destiny and dreams"[76]

Nadine "who through her magnificent epic writing has - in the words of Alfred Nobel - novel, short story,
1991 South Africa English
Gordimer been of very great benefit to humanity"[96] essay

"who with hallucinatory realism merges folk tales, history and the
2012 Mo Yan China Chinese novel, short story
contemporary"[117]