By Monika Stafa
Memorie.al/Anyone eagerly awaiting the middle of this October to see if their favorite writer receives the grand prize of literature, the Nobel Prize, should definitely enjoy double.
The Swedish Academy of Awards claims that all those ‘literary gamblers’ in this case who have tried their intuition with a particular writer name, have increased their chances of winning. So, what is the reason?
As we know, due to the decision of the Swedish Academy last year – in the wake of a sex scandal involving the husband of an Academy member who was convicted of rape – two Nobel Prizes will be awarded for literature, who will make up for the lack of 2018.
What happened?
Last year’s Nobel Prize for Literature was not awarded last year for the first time since 1949, after the Swedish Academy, the institution that selects the winners, became embroiled in a sex scandal. The Nobel Foundation, which carries out the will of Alfred Nobel, has previously announced the ‘steps the Swedish Academy has taken to create good opportunities for the restoration of trust’ and that the laureates for both 2018 and 2019 will be announced. this fall.
The most important change in the award is the appointment of five independent and external members, who will help the Swedish Academy select the laureates ‘for the coming years’. How the winner is selected has long been a secret. What is known is that about 200 nominations are reviewed by the Academy in February and further, in May a short list of five authors being studied over the summer is prepared. Detailed archives for jury reasoning open 50 years after the event.
The permanent secretary of the Swedish Academy, Anders Olsson, had earlier announced the postponement of the Award, saying that the organization should focus on “restoring public confidence” due to the handling of a series of allegations of sexual assault against Jean- Claude Arnault, husband of member Katarina Frostenson. Arnault was later convicted of rape and began serving his sentence.
A series of resignations swept through the Academy at the time, and then 12 members were required to select and announce the winner.
Following the scandal, the Nobel Foundation criticized the Academy for “cultivating a closed culture for a long period of time”. Among other things, the Foundation praised the Academy, saying that external voices ‘will now add new valuable perspectives’ to the jury. The prize, according to the will of Alfred Nobel, is given to the author who wrote ‘the most outstanding work in an idealistic form’.
The literary laureates, in addition to the medal, also receive the award of 9 million Swedish kronor (about 850 thousand euros). British writer Kazuo Ishiguro was the last laureate in 2017. Last year Guadeloupean author Maryse Condé was awarded an “alternative Nobel Prize”, the New Academy Award, which filled the gap left by the cancellation of the official award.
What are the predictions?
Although the Nobel Prize in Literature has long been difficult to predict, this has never stopped publishers from compiling their annual chances. According to the well-known British site Nicer Odds, Canadian poet and essayist Anne Carson is at the top of this year, while George RR Martin, an American short story writer and novelist, who writes in the genre of fantasy, horror, and fanta- science. Martin is also a screenwriter and television producer. He became famous with his series of best-selling fantasy novels, A Song of Ice and Fire, which HBO later adapted for a series of ‘dramas’, entitled Game of Thrones.
Will the unbearable reception of Milan Kundera end? Will the Stockholm Concert Hall be able to become a dream palace for Ismail Kadare? What if Olga Tokarczuk, the Polish writer with a voice and reputation known to the public, will be able to dig the ground on the bones of her defeated peers? We will reveal this on Good Friday this week. We wish that the satanic day is not colorless for our Albanian! Here are some of the contenders…
Anne Carson 4/1
Maryse Condé 5/1
Can Xue 8/1
Haruki Murakami 8/1
Lyudmila Ulitskaya 8/1
Ngugi Wa Thiong’o 8/1
Margaret Atwood 10/1
Marilynne Robinson 10/1
Olga Tokarczuk 10/1
Péter Nádas 10/1
Adunis 14/1
Gerald Murnane 14/1
Mircea Cartarescu 14/1
Ya Hua 14/1
Ismail Kadare 17/1
Javier Marías 20/1
Jon Fosse 20/1
László Krasznahorkai 20/1
Milan Kundera 20/1
Peter Handke 20/1
Yoko Tawada 20/1
César Aira 25/1
Yang Lian 25/1
Ko Un 33/1
Ernesto Cardenal 50/1
George R. R. Martin 250/1
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