Nobel Prize in Literature: The firsts

The Nobel Prize is one of the most prestigious awards at the international level. The award honours academic, cultural and/or scientific advances.

Literature was one of the five categories established according to the will of Alfred Nobel, the Swedish polymath, in 1895. The other four categories were physics, chemistry, peace and medicine.

The first in the world to receive the Nobel in literature was French poet Sully Prudhomme (1839–1907), in 1901. He won the award for his artistic, idealistic poetry that had an appeal both emotionally and intellectually.

The first Indian to win the award was ‘Mahakavi’ Rabindranath Tagore (1861–1941). He was given the prestigious award in 1913 for the English translation of his collection of poems, Gitanjali. Currently he is also the only Indian Nobel laureate in literature.