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Nobel Literature Prize announcement delayed

AFP
AFP - [email protected]
Nobel Literature Prize announcement delayed
Haruki Murakami (pictured) is one of the bookmakers' favourites. Photo: Bernat Armangue/AP/TT

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 13th, a little later than usual, the Swedish Academy said on Friday.

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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 Per Wästberg 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 3rd, chemistry on October 4th, physics on October 5th, peace on October 7th and economy on October 10th.

As usual, it is difficult to predict who the winner will be.

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.

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