The Nobel Prize for literature, the most prestigious award that can be won by any writer, will be awarded Thursday in Stockholm. And who will win it, no one can say.
Speculation this year centers on the Belarusian writer Svetlana Alexievich, Japanese novelist Haruki Murakami, Kenyan novelist Ngugi Wa Thiong’o, Norwegian novelist and playwright Jon Fosse and American writers Joyce Carol Oates and Philip Roth.
But that is mere guesswork. Past winners have included figures as diverse as Jean Patrick Modiano, the French novelist who won last year, and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, who won in 1953 for his sweeping, multi-volume works of history.
Secrecy for half a century
As always, the shortlist — let alone the winner — is a closely held secret. Even the list of nominations is kept secret for 50 years.
The truth is that no one, other than members of the committee, knows the answer
This year will be the 107th time the prize has been awarded. Yet only 13 women have won the Nobel.
The average age of winners has been 64. The oldest winner was Doris Lessing, who was 88 when she won the prize in 2007. And the youngest was Rudyard Kipling, best known for “The Jungle Book,” who won at age 42.
