Which five authors are in running for the 2013 Nobel prize?

A tweet from the Swedish Academy has unleashed a flood of speculation about the five writers they are considering - could it be Don DeLillo's year, or perhaps it's Murakami's turn

by: Alison Flood

There's been a flurry of gossip over the Nobel prize for literature, thanks to GalleyCat and the Literary Saloon, who both highlighted this tweet from the Swedish Academy over the weekend, that "5 candidates have been selected for 2013 #NobelPrize in #Literature according to Permanent Secretary of the Swedish Academy".


Tantalising! Who do we think they could be? Will it be Philip Roth's year, now he's retired from the old writing business? I'd love it if it were, but I think it's unlikely, given that he's nothing new out - Steinbeck, for example, won in 1962, well after his most enduring works were published, but according to recently released records from the Nobel archives, the Academy felt that the publication of his novel The Winter of Our Discontent in 1961 showed that "after some signs of slowing down in recent years, [Steinbeck has] regained its position as a social truth-teller [and is an] authentic realist fully equal to his predecessors Sinclair Lewis and Ernest Hemingway". As Roth has ruled out any more novels, I think his "position as a social truth-teller" is going to have to rely on his past oeuvre - and I'm not sure that'll sway the Academy.

MA Orthofer at the Complete Review wonders if an African author will be in the running this year: "Will Chinua Achebe's passing and the nominations from more African academics nudge them towards some continental names - perennials like Nuruddin Farah or Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o (or, dare I hope, someone like Ayi Kwei Armah)? " he asks.

There is strong support on the books desk, always, for Haruki Murakami, and at GalleyCat, meanwhile, there's a mention of Don DeLillo. Might it be America's turn this year? Which five names do you think are in the running? We'll find out the winner in October, but we'll have to wait 50 years to know who the final five were...so get guessing.

from: Guardian