The world is about to find out who will enter the Olympus of literature. It will be this Thursday, October 6 at 1:00 p.m. when the winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, one of the most prestigious awards in the world, will be announced.
Interest in this award is growing. Proof of this is that, within the Nobel Prizes, it is one of the categories with which most speculation and bets are accompanied. In fact, a few hours after the verdict comes to light, there are already several favorites. And a fact that draws attention is that among the top ten, there are three French-speaking writers and none Spanish-speaking.
Of course, despite the fact that the finalist is usually among the names that sound the strongest, it is not something strictly necessary. In fact, in 2021, the Tanzanian Abdulrazak Gurnah did not even appear on the list. However, let's analyze how the bets are now. For now, Anne Carson and Michel Houllebecq are vying for first place in the ranking.
72 years old, born in Toronto
Stakes: 5/1
Considered by literary critics as the most important living poet of Anglo-Saxon letters. In 2020 she was awarded the Princess of Asturias Award for Letters. She is an essayist, translator, poet and teacher, she is reluctant to talk about her private life, which she jealously guards, and of which she barely gives biographical data in her books. So much so that, in most of her books, the only information that appears about it is "she is born in Canada and makes a living teaching ancient Greek."
His best-known work in Spain is the collection of poems La Belleza del husband: a narrative essay in 29 tangos (2001), which tells the story of a marriage that falls apart, in a series of scenes, dialogues and reflections that revolve around the Keats's phrase "beauty is truth".
66 years old, born in Saint-Pierre, Réunion
Stakes: 6/1
The French poet, novelist and essayist is another name that sounds strong this year. It is recurrent in these rankings, however, there are many who have decided to bet on it this edition. The Elementary Particles and Platform became milestones in the new French narrative for their description of the affective and sexual misery of Western man at the end of the 20th and beginning of the 21st centuries. His work gave rise to the so-called Houellebecq phenomenon, not only for being an editorial phenomenon but also for becoming the focus of debate in the national and international press. His last work, Annihilation (Anagram), centers its plot in November 2026, a few months before the start of the presidential elections.
82 years old, born in Lillebonne, France
Stakes: 8/1
Although he started with fiction, Ernaux soon realized that autobiography was his thing. He has shown this over the years with his stories, many of them set in his childhood and centered on the cafeteria and grocery store that his parents had in the French city of Yvetot, in Normandy. There are several themes that he touches on in his production, from the life of his mother (Une femme), his adolescence (Ce qu'ils disent ou rien) and his marriage (La femme gelée), to the social ascent of his parents (La place, La honte), her abortion (The Event) or Alzheimer's (Je ne suis pas sortie de ma Nuit).
84 years old, born in Kamirithu, Kenya
Stakes: 10/1
The Kenyan is another of the eternal contenders for the Nobel Prize for Literature. A living legend of African letters, he has been honored throughout his career with various awards, including the International Catalonia Prize, in recognition of an author who writes in a minority language, Gikuyu, and his Africanist activism.
The author fled his country in the 1980s, fleeing the dictatorship of Kenyan President Daniel Arap Moi, and settled in the United States, where he currently works as a Distinguished Professor of English and Literature at the University of California.
82 years old, born in Ottawa, Canada
Stakes: 10/1
The Canadian is not only a strong candidate for the Nobel Prize for years, but, following the success of the television series based on her famous dystopian novel The Handmaid's Tale, she has also become a pop culture star.
85 years old, Pborn in ointe-à-Pitre, Guadeloupe
Stakes: 10/1
In addition to being a writer, the Guadeloupean is a renowned feminist and activist who disseminates African history and culture. Her extensive work and her versatility to write historical fiction, short stories, novels or essays, have led her to appear for several years as a possible candidate to win the Nobel Prize. In fact, in 2018 she received the alternative Nobel Prize for Literature for her work as a whole.
Previously, her novels I, Tituba, the black witch of Salem and La vie scélérate won the National Prize for Literature on Women and the Anaïs-Ségalas Prize from the French Academy, respectively. Also, in 1993, she became the first woman to receive the Putterbaugh Prize, awarded by the United States to francophone writers.
75 years old, born in Mumbai, India
Stakes: 12/1
Salman Rushdie is one of the names that sounds the most in this edition, especially after the Indian writer was stabbed in the neck during a conference in New York last August.
Rushdie has been living under the threat of Iranian fundamentalism for years. Specifically, after the publication of The Satanic Verses, his best-known and most controversial work. Shortly after its publication, Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini issued a fatwa calling for Rushdie's death and placing a multimillion-dollar bounty on his head, forcing the author to live in hiding for years.
63 years old, born in Haugesund, Norway
Stakes: 12/1
The Norwegian writer and playwright has been involved in the world of letters since 1983 after the publication of his first novel, Raudt, svart (Red, black). His first play, Og aldri skal vi skiljast, was performed and published in 1994. To this day, he is considered one of the greatest contemporary playwrights in the world.
In addition to novels and plays, he has touched on other genres, such as stories, poetry, children's books and essays. His fame is worldwide because his works have been translated into more than forty languages. In 2007 he was appointed to the French National Order of Merit in 2007.
77 years old, born in Châtelus-le-Marcheix, France
Stakes: 15/1
He spent his childhood in Guéret, in Creuse. He was educated by his mother, a teacher, once his father left home. He studied literature at Clermont-Ferrand, and dedicated his undergraduate memoir to Antonin Artaud. He worked as a teacher, and was part of a theater company, with which he toured all of France. Like Rimbaud, he did not have a permanent occupation. The book is presented as a succession of novels or "lives" of characters he knew in his childhood, whom he ran into again in his life.
