Zadie Smith

Winner of the 2026 Hans Christian Andersen Literature Award

Zadie Smith is a British novelist, essayist, and short story writer, born in London in 1975. She is renowned for her incisive observations on identity, class, and contemporary culture. The award will be presented in October at a ceremony in Odense, Denmark.


Zadie Smith receives The Hans Christian Andersen Literature Award 2026

When the Hans Christian Andersen Literature Award is bestowed for the tenth time on 4 October 2026, the recipient will be the internationally renowned author Zadie Smith.
The prestigious prize will be awarded in a grand ceremony at Odeon in Odense and will once again be celebrated nationally and internationally.

When the British author Zadie Smith comes to Denmark in October 2026, she will be presented with The Hans Christian Andersen Literature Award and will receive 500,000 Danish kroner together with a sculpture, The Ugly Duckling, created by the sculptor Stine Ring Hansen. The award is presented on the basis of the following citation:   

“Zadie Smith is awarded the Hans Christian Andersen Literature Award 2026 for her ability to portray the outsider with both a distanced perspective and a life-affirming empathy. This is achieved in a series of formally experimental novels which share a global outlook and a special ability to pin down in language the spirit of the age.”

Zadie Smith was born in 1975 in Willesden, north-west London, to a Jamaican-English family. As a 25-year-old she made her debut with the novel White Teeth (2000), which became an international bestseller and secured her the first of her career’s many literary prizes. The novel is set in a multicultural area of London from the mid‑1970s onwards and explores the friendship between two former Second World War soldiers, Archie Jones and Samad Iqbal, and the lives of their families. The novel portrays a society shaped by people of diverse ethnic backgrounds and religious and family affiliations and does so with a bold sense of humour and imagination that challenges prejudice and conventional ways of thinking.

Since then, Zadie Smith has strengthened her position as one of the most notable writers of our time. She is especially recognised for her dynamic language and empathetic ability to portray the multicultural reality in which increasing numbers of people have lived since the 1990s, especially in big cities. Zadie Smith is able to capture moods and situations with a distinctive tone that gives the reader a sense of the recent past – the 70s, 80s, and 90s – that she often writes about. She invites us to laugh, to wonder, and to look critically at ourselves.

Since her sensational debut she has written five critically acclaimed novels: The Autograph Man (2002), On Beauty (2007), NW (2012), Swing Time (2016) and The Fraud (2023). In addition, she has published short stories and essays and has worked in drama.

Smith’s latest novel, The Fraud, is set in the nineteenth century and is based on the real events surrounding a court case in which a man claimed to be the missing heir to a baronetcy and a large fortune. But he may be a fraudster – and fraud is a pervasive feature of the Victorian era, in which imperialism triumphs while slavery leaves a lasting impact on culture and society.

The previous recipients of The Hans Christian Andersen Literature Award, whose company Smith now joins, are Margaret Atwood, Karl Ove Knausgård, J.K. Rowling, Haruki Murakami, Isabel Allende, Paulo Coelho, A.S. Byatt and Sir Salman Rushdie.

The full programme for the visit will be published in the course of 2026.

With kind regards,

Jens Olesen, Chairman of the Hans Christian Andersen Literature Award Committee

For further information, please contact:

FOTO CREDIT: Alex Cameron

Zadie Smith modtager The Hans Christian Andersen Literature Award 2026

Pressemeddelelse

Når The Hans Christian Andersen Literature Award uddeles for 10. gang den 4. oktober 2026, er modtageren den verdensberømte forfatter Zadie Smith. Den prestigefulde pris overrækkes ved en storstilet ceremoni i Odeon i Odense.

Når den britiske forfatter Zadie Smith kommer til Danmark i oktober til næste år, får hun overrakt The Hans Christian Andersen Literature Award på 500.000 kr. samt skulpturen, The Ugly Duckling, skabt af billedhugger Stine Ring Hansen. Det sker med følgende motivation:

”Zadie Smith tildeles The Hans Christian Andersen Literature Award 2026 for sin evne til at portrættere outsideren med såvel et distanceret blik som en livsbekræftende empati. Det sker i en række formeksperimenterende romaner med globalt udsyn, hvor hun viser sin særlige evne til sprogligt at indfange og spidde tidsånden.”

Zadie Smith er født i 1975 i Willesden i det nordvestlige London i en jamaicansk-engelsk familie. Som 25-årig både debuterede hun med romanen Hvide tænder, White Teeth (da. 2000), som blev en international bestseller og sikrede hende de første af sin karrieres mange litterære priser. Romanen udspiller sig i en multikulturel bydel i London fra midt-halvfjerdserne og frem og handler venskabet imellem to soldaterkammerater Archie Jones og Samad Iqbal og følger deres familier. Romanen skildrer et samfund, præget af mennesker med forskellig etnicitet og religiøst og familiært tilhørsforhold og gør det med en vild humor og fantasi, der prikker til fordomme og vanlig tankegang.

Zadie Smith har siden styrket sin position som en af vor tids mest markante forfattere. Hun er især kendt for sit dynamiske sprog og empatiske evne til at skildre den multikulturelle virkelighed som flere og flere mennesker siden 1990’erne har levet midt i, ikke mindst i storbyerne. Zadie Smith formår at indfange stemninger og situationer med en særlig tone, som giver læseren en oplevelse af den nære fortid i 70’erne, 80’erne og 90’erne, som hun ofte skriver om. Hun får os til både at le, undres og se kritisk på os selv.

Siden sin opsigtvækkende debut har hun skrevet fem anmelderroste romaner: Autografmanden, The Autograph Man (2002, da. 2003), Om skønhed, On Beauty (2005, da. 2007), NW (2012, da. 2013), Swing Time (2016, da. 2017) og Bedrageren, The Fraud (2023, da. 2024). Desuden har hun udgivet noveller og essays og arbejdet med dramatik.  

Smiths seneste roman, Bedrageren, The Fraud , udspiller sig i det 19. århundrede og baserer sig på virkelige begivenheder omkring en retssag, hvor en mand påstår, at han er den forsvundne arving til et grevskab og en stor formue. Men måske er han en bedrager, og netop bedrag er et gennemgående træk i den victorianske tidsalder, hvor imperialismen triumferer, mens slaveriet trækker lange spor i samfund og kultur.

De tidligere modtagere af The Hans Christian Andersen Literature Award, som Smith nu kommer i selskab med, er Margaret Atwood, Karl Ove Knausgård, J.K. Rowling, Haruki Murakami, Isabel Allende, Paulo Coelho, A.S. Byatt og Sir Salman Rushdie.

Hele programmet for Zadie Smiths besøg bliver offentliggjort i løbet af 2026.

Med venlig hilsen

Jens Olesen, Formand for H.C. Andersen Litteraturprisens priskomité

For yderligere information, kontakt venligst: