Who was the first Asian writer to win the Nobel Prize in Literature?

Rabindranath Tagore was the first Asian writer to win the Nobel Prize in Literature, receiving it in 1913.

Tagore was a Bengali poet, novelist, playwright, composer, and educator from British India. The Swedish Academy recognized the deeply sensitive, fresh, and beautiful verse of his English-language version of Gitanjali: Song Offerings.

Tagore wrote primarily in Bengali, but translations helped introduce his work to readers beyond South Asia. He became the first non-European Literature laureate, a distinction sometimes incorrectly described as simply the first Asian Nobel laureate in every field.

Tagore also wrote the words of the Indian national anthem, Jana Gana Mana. His song Amar Shonar Bangla later became the national anthem of Bangladesh, giving his literary legacy an unusually broad regional reach.