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
French philosopher of duration and creative evolution, Nobel Prize in Literature 1927 for his rich and vitalizing ideas; refused Vichy's exemption from the anti-Jewish laws and registered as a Jew in…
Source: Wikipedia — Henri Bergson / NobelPrize.org Literature 1927
Boris Pasternak1957
Russian poet (My Sister, Life), translator of Shakespeare and Goethe, author of Doctor Zhivago; Nobel Prize in Literature 1958, which the Soviet authorities forced him to decline; born into an…
Source: Wikipedia — Boris Pasternak / NobelPrize.org Literature 1958
Shmuel Yosef Agnon1887
Central figure of modern Hebrew fiction (The Bridal Canopy, A Guest for the Night, Only Yesterday); Nobel Prize in Literature 1966, shared with Nelly Sachs, for narrative art with motifs from the…
Source: Wikipedia — Shmuel Yosef Agnon / NobelPrize.org 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
Hungarian survivor of Auschwitz and Buchenwald, author of Fatelessness; Nobel Prize in Literature 2002 for writing that upholds the fragile experience of the individual against the barbaric…
Source: Wikipedia — Imre Kertész / NobelPrize.org Literature 2002
Elfriede Jelinek1946
Austrian novelist and playwright (The Piano Teacher, The Children of the Dead); Nobel Prize in Literature 2004 for her musical flow of voices and counter-voices; daughter of a chemist of Czech-Jewish…
Source: Wikipedia — Elfriede Jelinek / NobelPrize.org Literature 2004
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