![Poet Louise Glück in 2016 receiving the National Humanities Medal from President Barack Obama. Wednesday, Glück was awarded the 2020 Nobel Prize in Literature. [Carolyn Kaster / AP]](https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/7526abb/2147483647/strip/true/crop/2194x1645+0+0/resize/840x630!/format/webp/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Flegacy%2Fimages%2Fnews%2Fnpr%2F2020%2F10%2F921533638_1202206368.jpg)
The 2020 Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded to the U.S. poet Louise Glück "for her unmistakable poetic voice that with austere beauty makes individual existence universal."
Her first published work of poetry was Firstborn in 1968. She received the Pulitzer Prize for The Wild Iris in 1992.
Glück is currently writer-in-residence at Yale University and was the 12th Poet Laureate of the United States.
As is customary, the announcement was made in Stockholm at The Swedish Academy.
The 2020 Nobel Prize has a cash award of 10 million Swedish krona ($1.12 million). The traditional December awards ceremony in Stockholm will take place virtually this year because of the pandemic.
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