As time draws near, the Nobel Prize for Literature will soon be announced in Sweden. The rest of the world will hear about the winner Thursday, October 7th at 7:00 am EST.
As we are less than 24 hours away from the announcement, speculation is growing. The British bookmarker Ladbrokes is experienced at setting Nobel odds, but there has been somewhat of a “shake-up” this year. David Williams of Ladbrokes hasn’t seen this much volatility in a long while. The favorite as of last week, Tomas Transtromer of Sweden, has been somewhat upstaged by Cormac McCarthy and the Kenyan novelist Ngugi wa Thiong’O.
Michael Orthofer who has followed all things related to the Nobel, shares his thoughts to The New Yorker , “As we’ve seen before, these odds are less than predictive,yet the recent developments seem to have spooked Ladbrokes”. Ladbrokes asserts that while Ngugi was a rank outsider when they first evaluated the candidates, they have called it wrong. David Williams of Ladbrokes asserts, “Punters can’t get enough of him (Ngugi) and we’re dreading him being announced the winner.”
That being said, the shift in odds for this year’s winner represents a season of true volatility. You can feed your literary appetite, by shopping Biblio’s shelves for a wonderful selection of books authored by this year’s candidates. Books range from new to used, from prized copies to worn and well- loved. The “odds-on” favorites at this hour include:
