Who was the first poet to win the Nobel Prize in Literature?

Sully Prudhomme was the first poet to win the Nobel Prize in Literature.

The French poet received the inaugural Literature Nobel in 1901, when the Nobel prizes were first awarded. The Swedish Academy honored him for poetry it described as idealistic, artistically accomplished, and marked by an unusual blend of emotion and intellect.

Born René François Armand Prudhomme in Paris in 1839, he adopted “Sully Prudhomme” as his literary name. He originally studied engineering, then turned toward philosophy and poetry. Associated with the Parnassian movement, he favored carefully controlled form and often explored scientific, philosophical, and moral ideas.

His selection was controversial even at the time. Many observers believed Leo Tolstoy was more deserving, although Tolstoy had not been nominated and therefore could not receive that year’s award. Frédéric Mistral, another leading candidate, won the Literature Nobel in 1904. Prudhomme used much of his prize money to establish a poetry award, linking his Nobel success to support for other writers.