Nobel Prize in Literature
Jewish recipients of the Nobel Prize in Literature documented in the ThankJews directory. Jews are about 14% of all recipients — while making up roughly 0.2% of the world's population.
17 documented recipients
Paul von Heyse1910
First German Nobel laureate in literature (1910); poet and novelist of Jewish paternal descent
Source: Jinfo.org — Jewish Nobel Prize winners in Literature
Henri Bergson1927
Rich and vital ideas and the brilliant skill with which they were presented
Source: Jinfo.org / Nobel Prize Literature 1927
Boris Pasternak1957
Russian poet and novelist, author of Doctor Zhivago, Nobel Prize 1958; from an assimilated Jewish family
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boris_Pasternak
Shmuel Yosef Agnon1888
Nobel laureate in Literature and a central figure in modern Hebrew fiction.
Source: Jinfo.org / Nobel Prize Literature 1966
Nelly Sachs1966
German-Swedish poet, Nobel Prize in Literature 1966; wrote on the Jewish experience and Holocaust
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nelly_Sachs
Saul Bellow1953
Novelist
Source: Nobel Prize Literature 1976
Isaac Bashevis Singer1978
Novelist
Source: Nobel Prize Literature 1978
Elias Canetti1905
Nobel Prize-winning novelist ('Auto-da-Fé', 'Crowds and Power')
Source: Jinfo.org — Jews in Literature
Joseph Brodsky1940
Nobel Prize-winning poet and US Poet Laureate
Source: Jinfo.org — Jews in Literature
Nadine Gordimer1923
Nobel Prize-winning South African novelist and anti-apartheid voice
Source: Jinfo.org — Jews in Literature
Imre Kertész2002
Writing that upholds the individual experience against the barbarism of history (the Holocaust)
Source: Jinfo.org / Nobel Prize Literature 2002
Elfriede Jelinek1946
Nobel Prize-winning Austrian novelist and playwright ('The Piano Teacher')
Source: Jinfo.org — Jews in Literature
Harold Pinter2005
Drama uncovering the precipice under everyday conversation
Source: Jinfo.org / Nobel Prize Literature 2005
Patrick Modiano1945
Nobel Prize-winning French novelist of memory and occupation
Source: Jinfo.org — Jews in Literature
Bob Dylan1962
Singer-Songwriter
Source: Nobel Prize Literature 2016
Louise Glück1943
Nobel Prize-winning American poet and US Poet Laureate
Source: Jinfo.org — Jews in Literature
László Krasznahorkai2025
Hungarian Nobel laureate in literature (2025), author of Satantango; Jewish father
Source: Jinfo.org — Jewish Nobel Prize winners in Literature