Nobel Literature Prize announcement pushed back to October 13

STOCKHOLM: Good things come to those who wait, and the saying may ring true for the next Nobel literature laureate as the prize will be announced on October 13, a little later than usual, the Swedish Academy said Friday.

The prestigious Nobel Literature Prize, first awarded in 1901, has traditionally been announced on a Thursday, generally the first one during the same October week as the other prizes created by Alfred Nobel.

The date change has to do with “arithmetic” and the calendar, academician Par Wastberg told AFP.

“The reason is very simple: our statutes indicate that we meet for four consecutive Thursdays starting the last Thursday in September before announcing the laureate,” Wastberg said.

So this year the Nobel literature prize will be the last to be announced, following medicine on October 3, chemistry on October 4, physics on October 5, peace on October 7 and economy on October 10.

As usual, who will be the winner is unpredictable.

Japanese novelist Haruki Murakami has the best chance according to the bookmakers. Others include Syrian poet Adonis, Kenyan novelist Ngugi wa Thiong’o and several famous American writers like Don DeLillo, Philip Roth and Joyce Carol Oates.

Other names are Britain’s Salman Rushdie, Albanian Ismail Kadare, Israeli David Grossman, Czech-French writer Milan Kundera and Norwegian playwright Jon Fosse.