SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
The 111th NobelPrize in Literature promises to be the closest in recent memory, with Kenyan poet Ngugi Wa Thiong’o neck-and-neck with Japanese novelist Haruki Murakami as favourites to win the prestigious Nobel Medal for literature.
The winner is set to be announced by the Swedish Academy in Stockholm on Thursday 9 October. The Noble Prize in Literature rewards the author from a country who has produced “literature of outstanding work for an ideal direction” (Alfred Nobel 1833 – 1896)
Bookmaker Ladbrokes has opened a special market for the competition, from which it expects to generate £50,000 in wagering, the highest the bookmaker has seen for a literature competition.
Swedish news sources have placed Japanese author Haruki Murakami’s “Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage” as favourite (Ladbrokes 3-1), however literature commentators believe that Murakami’s material which contains graphic sex scenes, self-harm and talking cats may not bond with the Nobel Committee who have been known for its conservative tastes.
In recent days Kenyan poet Ngugi Wa Thiong’o political satire “Wizard of the Crow” has begun to gather momentum as potential Nobel Prize Winner. The novel blends African political satire with fantasy realism, as Thiong’o tells the story of the fictional Free Republic of Aburiria.
Thiong’o narration has been compared to that of legendary Colombian author Gabriel Garcia Marquez (1982 Nobel Literature Prize winner ). If Thiong’o were to win he would become the fourth African writer to win the Nobel Medal
“It was looking for months as though Murakami would head into the announcement day as the hot favourite, but [Ngũgĩ] has captured the imagination late on (odds cut from 12/1, to 6/1 then 4/1) and he could easily become the clear favourite very soon,” said Ladbrokes spokesman Alex Donohue
Third favourite and strongest outsider is Belarus journalist Svetlana Alexievech “Voices from Chernobyl”, which chronicles first person accounts of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster.
Popular novelists in contention of the Nobel Medal, are Norwegian Playwright Jan Fosse for his stoic modern family drama “Night Songs”. American Pulitzer winning author Philip Roth is an outside runner (12-1 Ladbrokes) for his sharp critique of American twentieth century idealism and prosperity led values in American Pastoral.
