Nobel Literature Prize winner to be announced today

The announcement of the Nobel Literature winner will be broadcast on the official page on Facebook.

The Nobel Prize’s distinctive feature is the closed selection process. The list of candidates and the name of the winner are kept in secret until the announcement. Even after the laureate is announced, names of other candidates are not revealed for 50 years.

This year’s laureates have been announced in all categories except for literature. Bookmakers name Kenian author, playwright and political writer Ngugi wa Thiong’o, Japanese writer Haruki Murakami and Syrian poet Ali Ahmad Said Esber also known as Adonis among favourites.

However, the opinion of the majority reflected in the betting often differs with the decision of the Swedish Academy. So, it’s worth noting other potential winners. They are American writers Philip Roth and Don DeLillo, Norwegian writer and playwright Jon Fosse, South Korean writer and poet Ko Un, Spanish writer Javier Marías and Argentine author César Aira. It’s interesting to note there are no women among this year’s favourites.

The Nobel Prize in Literature 2015 was awarded to Belarusian writer Svetlana Alexievich. The Nobel Committee marked her works and a significant contribution to the development of humanism in literature. Alexievich’s most famous works are War's Unwomanly Face, Chernobyl Prayer, The Last Witnesses, Boys in Zinc and Second-hand Time that together constitute a series entitled Voices from Big Utopia.

The Nobel Prize in Literature has been awarded since 1901. Candidates are selected by the Nobel Committee, and laureates are chosen by the Swedish Academy. The Swedish Academy was founded in 1786 by King Gustav III to support and promote the Swedish language and literature. The Academy consists of 18 members elected by permanent academy members for life. At the moment, one post in the Academy remains vacant, so the decision on the Nobel Prize winner is taken by 17 members.