Europe News

Amos Oz tops betting for Nobel Literature prize

Sep 22, 2009, 11:04 GMT

Stockholm - Israeli author Amos Oz is this year's favourite to win the Nobel Prize for Literature, according to odds published Tuesday by online betting site Ladbrokes.

Oz, who has often been cited in connection with the coveted award, was at 5 to 1, followed by Algerian-born poet Assia Djebar of France at 6-1, and Spanish author Luis Goytisola at 7-1.

Goytisola, who lives in Morocco, is a newcomer in the speculation stakes but reflects the fact that Ladbrokes this year has focused more on writers from Spain and Latin America.

Perennial US duo Joyce Carol Oates and Philip Roth were both at 8 to 1, while Syrian-born poet Adonis (Ali Ahmad Said Asbar) who has also featured in previous speculation gave the odds 9 to 1.

Italians Antoni Tabucchi and Claudio Magris, Haruki Murakami of Japan, and Thomas Pynchon of the US completed the top-10 list and were all at 10 to 1.

Frenchman Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clezio won the Nobel literature prize in 2008.

Odds for US singer-songwriter Bob Dylan were 26 to 1, a sizeable drop compared to 2008 when he was at 101 to 1, Ladbrokes said.

Also at 26 to 1 were Canadian writers Alice Munro and Margaret Atwood, Juan Marse of Spain and James Ngugi of Kenya.

The Swedish Academy's choice is due to be announced in October at a date yet to be announced.

In recent years, the academy that awards the coveted prize, has made some surprise choices, including the 1997 selection of Italian playwright Dario Fo.

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

Nobel also endowed prizes for medicine, physics, chemistry and peace awarded since 1901. The prizes are worth 10 million kronor (1.45 million dollars).

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