Ingrid Carlberg, permanent secretary of the Swedish Academy, said she had broken the news to Carson on the phone shortly before the public announcement.
“She had time to tell me was that she is, for the moment, in Iceland, where she is listening to the wind,” Carlberg, said.
“She was taken by surprise but very happy. I could hear that in her voice.”
Anders Olsson, chairman of the Swedish Academy’s Nobel committee for Literature, praised the way Carson has “broken away from lyrical poetry bound to the narrative self and inspired new forms of contemporary literature”.
“This method of writing leads to playful and ironic works that move not only between classical and modern poetry but also between different genres and artforms,” he said.
Carson’s notable works include The Glass Essay, Autobiography of Red: A Novel in Verse, Nox, Float and The Beauty of the Husband: A Fictional Essay in 29 Tangos.
Carson has also translated ancient Greek literature and has been a professor of classics for more than 30 years.