A customer picks up a book by Anne Carson at Type Books on the day she was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, in Toronto on Thursday.Arlyn McAdorey/The Canadian Press
Canadian readers evidently have a serious case of Anne Carson fever.
The Toronto-born poet’s Nobel Prize win has sent sales of her books soaring by more than 10,000 per cent at Indigo, while some libraries are seeing an unprecedented rush for her work.
Indigo says sales of Carson’s titles jumped a staggering 10,325 per cent on Thursday, the day she was named the winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature, compared with the previous day.
Online searches for Carson’s books surged even higher, climbing 20,809 per cent day over day.
The Canadian bookseller says it could not share how many copies were actually sold, as that information is proprietary and commercially sensitive.
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Indigo says it sold 18 different titles by Carson on Thursday, with Autobiography of Red, The Beauty of the Husband and Red Doc leading the charge.
The sudden thirst from Carson’s work isn’t limited to bookstores.
Calgary Public Library says it’s seen an extraordinary spike in demand for the poet’s work, with 435 holds placed on her print titles since Thursday’s announcement.
That’s out of 447 total holds currently placed on Carson’s print books, with 131 readers waiting for Autobiography of Red alone.
“That is an unprecedented rate of holds placement for poetry in one day, let alone any title,” said library selector Kari Brawn in a statement.
The library says it is ordering additional print copies of Carson’s books to keep up with demand.
The frenzy has reached the East Coast, too.
Halifax Public Libraries says it’s recorded 152 new holds across the five Carson print titles in its collection since Thursday, an increase it attributes to her Nobel win.
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Even virtual shelves are feeling the Carson fever.
Calgary Public Library purchased 10 of Carson’s titles for its Libby digital collection on Thursday and has since recorded 170 checkouts and 180 holds.
The audiobook edition of Autobiography of Red has proven particularly popular, with 73 checkouts, while the e-book edition of The Beauty of the Husband has attracted 43 holds.
Carson, whose genre-defying body of work blends poetry, prose, classical mythology and literary criticism, is among Canada’s most celebrated writers.
The Nobel win has also arrived ahead of a new book from Carson, Beware the Man Whose Handwriting Sways Like a Reed in the Wind, which is slated for release in February, 2027.