The Nobel Committee for Literature is the Nobel Committee responsible for evaluating the nominations and presents its recommendations to the Swedish Academy, which then selects, through a vote, the Nobel Prize in Literature. The committee members – usually five – are elected for three years among the Swedish Academy members, with the Permanent Secretary serving as an associate member. In assessing the qualifications of candidates, the committee invites the assistance of specially appointed expert advisers, which include translators, literary critics, and linguists.

Committee duties and deliberations Every year in September, the Nobel Committee sends out nomination forms to hundreds of individuals and organizations qualified to nominate. Some uninvited nominations from other literary societies, academies, and individuals are also accepted. Such forms must be completed and submitted on or before January 31st, the Nobel Committee's deadline for submissions.

From February to April, the Nobel Committee screens the nominations and presents a list for approval by the Swedish Academy. Immediately after the nominees are approved, the Committee evaluates and creates a list of 25 to 20 candidates for preliminary evaluation. After the deliberations, the Committee selects five priority candidates that they thoroughly assess specifically on their body of literary work and merits. From June to August, each Committee member prepares their respective findings and criticisms of the candidates.

In September, the Academy members receive the Committee members' assessments of the finalists and discuss the literary merits of the different candidates' contributions. Within this month, the Committee again sends out nomination forms for the following year's deliberations. In October, days before the announcement, the Academy selects the Nobel laureate in Literature through votation. A candidate must receive more than half of the votes cast. It rarely happens that the Academy proposes another candidate aside from the Committee's finalists, which causes distress and conflicts among the members.

Criterions for evaluating candidates The Nobel committee says that literary quality is the main criterion for evaluating the candidates. An important criterion is universality, that the authors work retains its power beyond linguistic and cultural borders. Political or moral aspects are not taken in consideration, the candidates are only ever evaluated on their literary achievements.

In 2021 – the year when Tanzanian-born British author Abdulrazak Gurnah won the prize – Committee member Ellen Mattson was asked about what criteria the Committee uses in selecting a laureate, she responded saying:

Committee chair Anders Olsson also expressed his thoughts in October 2019 – the year American poet Louise Glück won – of what they look for writer worthy of becoming a Nobel laureate, saying:

Members Since the establishment of the Nobel Committee, there have been 43 members of the Swedish Academy appointed. The longest serving member is Anders Österling who was a member of the Nobel committee for 60 years from 1921 to 1981. In 1983, Kerstin Ekman became the first woman to the appointed and since then had twelve women appointed. Controversially, two former committee members, Erik Axel Karlfeldt and Eyvind Johnson, were awarded a Nobel Prize in 1931 and 1974.Helmer Lång, 100 nobelpris i litteratur 1901–2001, Symposion 2001, page 131Örjan Lindberger Människan i tiden: Eyvind Johnsons liv och författarskap 1938–1976 Albert Bonniers förlag 1990 In addition, Per Hallström and Henrik Schück were also nominated.

In addition to the Nobel Committee's work, a number of literary experts from different parts of world are appointed to the Nobel Institute to assist the Swedish Academy with opinions on nominated candidates.

On 19 November 2018, the Swedish Academy added five temporary external members to help its five-strong Nobel Committee in their deliberations for the 2019 and 2020 awards: author and literary translator Gun-Britt Sundström; publisher Henrik Petersen; and literary critics Mikaela Blomqvist, Rebecka Kärde and Kristoffer Leandoer. Just after two weeks, two of the newly added external members, Sundström and Leandoer, left the committee, with the latter saying the work to reform the scandal-hit Swedish Academy was taking too long. "I leave my job in the Nobel Committee because I have neither the patience nor the time to wait for the result of the work to change that has been started," Leandoer said.

+KeyCurrent members in bold Member Start End Tenure (years) Seat No. Chair Other roles and recognitions Carl David af Wirsén 1900 1912 8 1901–1912 Carl Snoilsky 1900 1903 10 Clas Theodor Odhner 1900 1903 11 Carl Rupert Nyblom 1900 1906 14 Esaias Tegnér Jr. 1900 1920 9 Hans Hildebrand 1903 1912 6 1912–1913 adjunct member (1901) Karl Alfred Melin 1904 1919 13 Erik Axel Karlfeldt 1907 1931 11 Nobel laureate (1931) Harald Hjärne 1913 1921 10 1913–1922 Per Hallström 1913 1946 14 1922–1946 Nobel nominee (1916, 1919, 1931) Henrik Schück 1920 1936 3 Nobel nominee (1916, 1929) Anders Österling 1921 1981 13 1946–1970 Fredrik Böök 1929 1949 10 Hjalmar Hammarskjöld 1932 1946 17 Torsten Fogelqvist 1937 1940 11 Sigfrid Siwertz 1942 1963 4 Hjalmar Gullberg 1947 1961 7 Eyvind Johnson 1959 1972 11 Nobel laureate (1974) Henry Olsson 1960 1971 5 Karl Ragnar Gierow 1963 1982 7 1971–1980 Erik Lindegren 1964 1968 17 Lars Gyllensten 1968 1987 14 1980–1987 Artur Lundkvist 1969 1986 18 Johannes Edfelt 1972 1987 17 Östen Sjöstrand 1979 1990 8 Kerstin Ekman 1983 1987 15 Sture Allén 1987 1999 3 Kjell Espmark 1988 2004 16 1987–2005 Horace Engdahl 1997 2019 17 Per Wästberg 1999 2023 12 2005–2018 Katarina Frostenson 2002 2015 18 associate member (2015–2018) Kristina Lugn 2008 2020 14 Peter Englund 2009 2015 10 associate member (2009–2015) Sara Danius 2015 2019 7 associate member (2015–2018) Sara Stridsberg 2018 2018 13 associate member (2018) Mats Malm 2018 2025 11 associate member (2018–2025) Jesper Svenbro 2019 2021 8 Kristoffer Leandoer 2018 2019 n/a external member (2018) Gun-Britt Sundström 2018 2019 n/a external member (2018) Henrik Petersen 2018 2021 n/a external member (2018–2020) Mikaela Blomqvist 2018 2021 n/a external member (2018–2020) Rebecka Kärde 2018 2021 n/a external member (2018–2020) Anders Olsson 2019 4 2018– Anne Swärd 2021 13 Ellen Mattson 2021 9 Steve Sem-Sandberg 2022 14 Anna-Karin Palm 2024 16 Ingrid Carlberg 2026 5 associate member (2026–)

Current members The following Swedish Academy members form the current Nobel Committee for Literature since 2026: Committee MembersSeat No.PictureNameElectedPositionProfession 4 Anders Olsson (b. 1949) 2008 committee chair literary critic, literary historian 5 Ingrid Carlberg (b. 1961) 2020 associate memberpermanent secretary author, journalist 9 Ellen Mattson (b. 1963) 2019 member novelist, essayist 14 Steve Sem-Sandberg (b. 1958) 2021 member journalist, author, translator 13 Anne Swärd (b. 1969) 2019 member novelist 16 Anna-Karin Palm (b. 1961) 2023 member novelist, culture writer

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