Nobel Prize announcement week kicks off today with the announcement of the winner(s) of the "Physiology or Medicine" award.
More importantly, the Swedish Academy announces today whether or not they'll be naming the winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature this week -- on Thursday, to be exact.
(If not, then the winner will be named, at the earliest, next Thursday, the 16th.)
Betting shops Unibet and PaddyPower have already closed their books on Nobel Prize in Literature-betting, leaving the field to Ladbrokes (who gamely generally keep betting open until right before the doors open at announcement time).
The only really significant movement at either Unibet or PaddyPower I saw before they took down their lists was Svetlana Alexievich, whose odds moved from 16/1 to 6/1 at PaddyPower; she has also moved to 7/1 at Unibet, from 10/1. The only other mover-into-the-top-five at Ladbrokes has been Patrick Modiano -- now down to 10/1, and listed on Sunday as their 'most popular bet' in this category; he is certainly a plausible finalist (and seems likely to have at least been nominated several times previously). New/recently added names include Nawal El Saadawi at a decent 20/1 -- she fits the profile of a plausible winner, except for her age (another octogenarian, yet again, so soon ?) -- and Adam Zagajewski, also at 20/1 (I have to think it would take a bit more for the award to go to yet another Polish poet).
(I'm still hoping for someone not on the betting sheets -- Shahrnush Parsipur, anyone ? etc. -- but another week of waiting would also be fun, allowing us to speculate about academy infighting and the like.)
Betting shops Unibet and PaddyPower have already closed their books on Nobel Prize in Literature-betting, leaving the field to Ladbrokes (who gamely generally keep betting open until right before the doors open at announcement time).
The only really significant movement at either Unibet or PaddyPower I saw before they took down their lists was Svetlana Alexievich, whose odds moved from 16/1 to 6/1 at PaddyPower; she has also moved to 7/1 at Unibet, from 10/1. The only other mover-into-the-top-five at Ladbrokes has been Patrick Modiano -- now down to 10/1, and listed on Sunday as their 'most popular bet' in this category; he is certainly a plausible finalist (and seems likely to have at least been nominated several times previously). New/recently added names include Nawal El Saadawi at a decent 20/1 -- she fits the profile of a plausible winner, except for her age (another octogenarian, yet again, so soon ?) -- and Adam Zagajewski, also at 20/1 (I have to think it would take a bit more for the award to go to yet another Polish poet).
(I'm still hoping for someone not on the betting sheets -- Shahrnush Parsipur, anyone ? etc. -- but another week of waiting would also be fun, allowing us to speculate about academy infighting and the like.)