Peter Englund, permanent secretary of the Royal Swedish Academy, arrives
to announce the winner of the Nobel Prize in literature, in Stockholm.
Thursday Oct. 9, 2014 is the festive day of the year for highbrow
culture when the winner of the Nobel Prize in literature is revealed.
The secretive academy drops no hints on who they consider, but Permanent
Secretary Peter Englund has said this year’s long-list started with 210
nominees, including 36 first-timers.
STOCKHOLM (ASSOCIATED PRESS) — It's soon time for the highbrow
culture event of the year: the Nobel Prize in literature. But don't
worry if you are left scratching your head when the winner is announced.
While the Swedish Academy sometimes picks
well-known authors long lauded by critics, just as frequently it
surprises the world with unknowns plucked from obscurity. The secretive
academy drops no hints on who they are considering but Permanent
Secretary Peter Englund said this year's long-list started with 210
nominees, including 36 first-timers.
The academy is expected to announce the winner on Thursday, but has
not yet confirmed the date. Here's a look at the potential surprises and
the old-time favorites:
POTENTIAL SURPRISES
Even literary critics were taken aback by
announcements of winners such as Austria's Elfriede Jelinek in 2004, who
was largely unknown outside the German-speaking world at the time,
French writer Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clezio in 2008 and Chinese novelist
Mo Yan in 2012.
Part of the reason for this is that the academy
aims to include literature from all the world's corners in their
considerations, even those not widely translated into English. They also
seek to award poets, playwrights and other types of writers. Who could
surprise this year? Check out: Norwegian playwright Jon Fosse,
Belarusian investigative journalist and author Svetlana Alexievich or
Croatian novelist and essayist Dubravka Ugresic. Other writers that may
have caught the attention of the academy are Finnish author Sofi
Oksanen, Nigerian writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and Jamaica Kincaid of
Antigua, according to Maria Schottenius, a critic at Swedish daily
Dagens Nyheter.
ESTABLISHED AUTHORS
The academy works off of a constantly evolving list
of candidates, and sometimes a big name resurfaces again and again.
While some may have been overlooked early in their careers, widely known
authors such as Britain's Doris Lessing, Peru's Mario Vargas Llosa and
Canada's Alice Munro eventually did walk off with the coveted prize.
Among the frequently mentioned candidates who are still waiting are:
Czech author Milan Kundera, Albanian writer Ismail Kadare, Algerian
novelist Assia Djebar and South Korean poet Ko Un. Swedish literature
critics have also suggested Israeli writers Amos Oz and David Grossman,
as well as Americans Richard Ford and Philip Roth.
BETTORS' FAVORITES
Kenyan writer Ngugi wa Thiong'o and Japanese author
Haruki Murakami frequently top bettors' lists ahead of the
announcement. While Thiong'o may indeed be a strong candidate,
Murakami's position in the rankings is probably more a reflection of the
fact that he is widely read, says Elise Karlsson, a critic at Swedish
daily Svenska Dagbladet. Although the academy has stepped up efforts to
prevent leaks before the announcement, the winner is still sometimes
among those getting the most attention by bettors.
On Saturday, Murakami was the favorite to win at
betting firm Ladbrokes, followed by Djebar, Kadare and Syrian-born poet
Adonis, pen name for Ali Ahmed Said.
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