Nobel Prize for Literature [216]

Nobel prizes were established by Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite,  in 1895.

There six classes awaked annually:  Peace, Chemistry, Literature, Physiology or Medicine, Physics and Economics.  All but one class is awarded by the King of Sweden in Stockholm. The Nobel Peace prizes is awarded in Oslo by the King of Norway. The prizes are widely regarded as the most prestigious in their respective fields.

Ireland (including Northern Ireland) is listed with a total of 11 Laureates: 5 Peace Prizes, 4 in Literature, and one each in Physiology or Medicine and Physics.   The Peace prizes are all fairly recent and concern the Northern Ireland situation.  The literature prizes are 1926 (W.B. Yeats), 1925 (George Bernard Shaw), 1951(Samuel Beckett), and 1995 (Seamus Heaney).

A special series of stamps was issued jointly by Ireland and Sweden in 2004, engraved by Lars Sjööblom, and printed by Sweden Post.  Pages from the presentation pack are shown in figures 1 through 5.  
    1. Cover;
    2. Swedish stamps;    
    3. Black print;
    4. Irish stamps;
    5. Biographic info on engraver.   In addition, Ireland and Sweden issued  prestige booklets.(Figure 6).

While four prizes out of the 126 Literature awards made by the Nobel Committee may not sound so great, it becomes notable when viewed in terms of the total number of awards – Ireland ranks ninth out of the top ten recipients, and, in terms of  population, Ireland and Sweden are tied at the most laureates per million inhabitants.

REFERENCES:

Wikipedia; Nobel Prize, List of Nobel Laureates by Country, Seamus Heaney, William Butler Yeats, George Bernard Shaw, Samuel Beckett.  Https://en.wikipedia.org

Hibernian Handbook and Catalogue of the Postage Stamps of Ireland, Rodgau Philatelie, Rodgau, Germany, 2020