Bets are on for Nobel literature prize (News Feature)

By Lennart Simonsson Oct 8, 2008, 12:01 GMT

Stockholm - On the eve of Thursday's announcement of the Nobel Prize for Literature, punters seemed to favour a winner from other countries than the United States.

At least according to two online betting sites.

The speculation mirrors that of Stockholm daily Dagens Nyheter that in a survey Wednesday concluded that 85 per cent of all literature laureates since 1995 have been Europeans.

In 2007, British writer Doris Lessing won the award while in 2006 it went to Orhan Pamuk of Turkey. JM Coetzee of South Africa, winner of the 2003 award, was the latest non-European to win the prize.

Online betting site Unibet had Israeli author Amos Oz as this year's favourite at 4 to 1 while rival Ladbrokes topped their list with Claudio Magris of Italy.

Both online bettings sites had Syrian-born poet Adonis (Ali Ahmad Said Asbar) in second place.

In recent years, the Swedish Academy, the body that awards the coveted prize, has made some surprise choices, including the 1997 selection of Italian playwright Dario Fo as well Austrian Elfriede Jelinek in 2004 and British playwright Harold Pinter the following year.

Hopes for US writers - at least for this year - seemed to have faded after Horace Engdahl, the permanent secretary of the academy, in a recent interview suggested that the US literary scene was 'too isolated, too insular.'

Engdahl's remarks angered some US critics who noted that the academy has over the years overlooked several great authors, noting Vladimir Nabakov and Leo Tolstoy.

Stockholm daily Svenska Dagbladet on Wednesday published a list of 10 great authors the academy had missed out on including Tolstoy, Emile Zola and James Joyce.

Ladbrokes had US authors Joyce Carol Oates and Philip Roth in third place this year along with Oz at 6 to 1, while American writer Don DeLillo was on 8 to 1.

Toni Morrison was in 1993 the most recent US author to win the Nobel Literature Prize.

The literature prize was endowed by Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite.

He also endowed prizes for medicine, physics, chemistry and peace awarded since 1901. The prizes are worth 10 million kronor (1.5 million dollars).

The award ceremonies are held December 10 in Stockholm and Oslo, the anniversary of Nobel's 1896 death in San Remo, Italy.