The Nobel Prize in Literature 1919 was awarded to Carl Spitteler "in special appreciation of his epic, Olympian Spring".

Carl Spitteler received his Nobel Prize one year later, in 1920. During the selection process in 1919, the Nobel Committee for Literature decided that none of the year's nominations met the criteria as outlined in the will of Alfred Nobel. According to the Nobel Foundation's statutes, the Nobel Prize can in such a case be reserved until the following year, and this statute was then applied. Carl Spitteler therefore received his Nobel Prize for 1919 one year later, in 1920.