Yahoo News writes:
The Swedish Academy said on Friday it will announce the 2007 Nobel Laureate in Literature on October 11, with odds-makers tipping well-tried names to take a prize that often goes to the obscure or controversial.
Bookmaker Ladbrokes, which takes bets on the literary world’s most prestigious award, has Italian novelist and essayist Claudio Magris as its favorite, followed by Australian “bush” poet Les Murray and American novelist Philip Roth.
Swedish poet Thomas Transtromer lies fourth on the list with Syrian-Lebanese poet Adonis in fifth.
Barring Murray, all have been suggested as possible winners in years past.
The short list for the 10 million Swedish crown ($1.54 million) prize is closely guarded and the winner is often a surprise — sometimes obscure enough to send reporters and literary scholars scurrying to reference books or the Internet.
The winner will be announced at 1 p.m. Stockholm time (1100 GMT) on October 11, the Swedish Academy said on its Web site.
While all other Nobel Prize dates are known well in advance, the date of what is deemed the literary world’s top honor is never revealed until a week before the announcement.
