Here are some of the most celebrated winners of the Nobel Prize in Literature for English-language writing. (Not "best" in an absolute sense—but widely taught, influential, and loved.)
Classic giants
William Faulkner (1949) – Stream-of-consciousness master; The Sound and the Fury.
Ernest Hemingway (1954) – Lean, powerful prose; The Old Man and the Sea.
T. S. Eliot (1948) – Modernist poetry; The Waste Land.
John Steinbeck (1962) – Social realism; The Grapes of Wrath.
Later 20th century
Saul Bellow (1976) – Intellectual, character-driven novels.
Toni Morrison (1993) – Lyrical explorations of Black American life; Beloved.
Seamus Heaney (1995) – Musical, rooted poetry.
Harold Pinter (2005) – Sharp, minimalist drama.
21st century
Kazuo Ishiguro (2017) – Memory, loss, quiet emotional force; The Remains of the Day.
Louise Glück (2020) – Intimate, myth-infused poetry.
If you tell me what kind of reading you like (novels vs poetry, modern vs classic, easier vs challenging), I can narrow this to the 2–3 winners you'd probably enjoy most.
