JAPANESE novelist Haruki Murakami has emerged as the early favorite to win this year’s Nobel prize for literature.
The acclaimed author of titles including “Norwegian Wood,” “The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle” and, most recently, “IQ84,” Murakami has been given odds of 10/1 by Ladbrokes to win the Nobel.
New names in Ladbrokes list this year include Chinese author Mo Yan and Dutch writer Cees Nooteboom, both coming in with strong odds of 12/1 to win the Nobel prize.
Last year the eventual winner of the award, the Swedish poet Tomas Transtromer, was the betting firm’s second favorite to take the prize, given initial odds of 9/2 behind the Syrian poet Adonis, at 4/1.
This year Adonis has slipped down the list, given odds of 14/1 alongside the Korean poet Ko Un and the Albanian writer Ismail Kadare.
Earlier this year the head of the Swedish Academy, Peter Englund, revealed that 46 of the 210 writers nominated for this year’s Nobel prize for literature had been picked for the first time. Candidates are put forward by a mix of Swedish Academy members and international literary figures.
“An unusually high number of former Nobel laureates have exercised their nomination right,” Englund wrote on his blog.
Britain’s strongest contender for the Nobel this year, which goes to “the most outstanding work in an ideal direction,” is — according to Ladbrokes — Ian McEwan, who comes in at 50/1, behind singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, at 33/1. American novelist Philip Roth is at 16/1, alongside his compatriot Cormac McCarthy, Israeli author Amos Oz and the highest-placed female writer, the Italian Dacia Maraini.
The result of this year’s Nobel prize for literature will be announced in October. (SD-Agencies)
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