STOCKHOLM: Speculation is mounting as the Nobel Prize in Literature is set to be announced on Wednesday, October 9.
Swiss novelist Christian Kracht, widely regarded as one of the leading contemporary German-language authors, has emerged as a strong favourite in literary circles. His appearance at this year’s Gothenburg Book Fai, where several members of the Swedish Academy, which awards the prize, were seen in the front row, has further fuelled predictions of his win.
“That is usually a sure sign,” said Bjorn Wiman, culture critic at Swedish daily Dagens Nyheter.
Last year, the prize went to South Korea’s Han Kang. Wiman suggested the Academy may this year favour “a white man from the Anglo-Saxon, German or French-language world.”
The Nobel season opens Monday with the medicine prize, followed by physics on Tuesday and chemistry on Wednesday. The Nobel Peace Prize will be announced later in the week, and the economics prize will conclude the season on October 13.
Among the contenders in the sciences are breakthroughs in innate immunity, the identification of leukaemia stem cells, and the discovery of an appetite-regulating hormone. Experts say the laureates could also use their global platform to highlight the impact of funding cuts to scientific research under U.S. President Donald Trump.
Each Nobel laureate receives a diploma, a gold medal, and a cash award of around $1.2 million.
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