Who will receive the Nobel Prize in Literature this year?
At the Gothenburg Book Fair, several seasoned culture reporters dodge TT's question - this time, no one seems to have a ready answer. And when Svenska Dagbladet's culture editor Ida Ölmedal answers the question by email, her response is brief.
"I've thought about it a bit, but unfortunately I don't have any good predictions this year, other than the obvious - that the chances seem higher for women every other year."
“Every other woman”
Since Polish author Olga Tokarczuk was awarded the 2018 prize, the Swedish Academy has followed the principle of "every other woman" - and if that pattern holds, there should be a female laureate after Krasznahorkai.
"It sometimes feels like they have some kind of agreement in the new Academy that, okay, you get this Central European man if we get a woman next year. So I've been thinking that maybe a white Central European man is not so likely this year," says Lina Kalmteg.
If the prize doesn't go to Europe, where will it go? Cultural journalist Ulrika Knutson is betting on Australia, where Gerald Murnane and Alexis Wright are strong candidates. Johannes Klenell, culture editor at Arbetet, thinks South America is more likely.
It should be every other woman. But if I have to bend one of the rules and the woke years, according to Erik Helmerson, are actually over, maybe a male South American would be a workable compromise? Then the Argentine César Aira would have been fun, he says.
Hoping for a 48-year-old
Lina Kalmteg also has 77-year-old Aira on her list of candidates, but would like to see a slightly younger female laureate, such as Samanta Schweblin, 48, also from Argentina.
The women in the new Latin American literature are super young in the context of the Nobel Prize. One would dream that one of them could be awarded the prize already now. But the difficult thing is the age. Han Kang received it when she was 53, and at that time people thought she seemed very young.
The list of potential Nobel laureates also includes writers who have been around for many years, such as Don DeLillo, Thomas Pynchon and Margaret Atwood. They are all over 85, and if they are ever to receive the prize, time is running out.
What is more likely: an unexpected choice or an old favorite?
After Krasznahorkai's award last year, someone said that he was so perfect that the Academy could have invented him themselves. I find it hard to see the Academy making the same typical choice again as last year, says Lina Kalmteg.
Vincenzo Latronico, author:
The Japanese author Minae Mizumura. She's a genius. She's written several works of fiction that are all so experimental because they mix Japanese literary tradition with Western. And they're so funny and so sad.
Ulrika Knutson, cultural journalist and author:
My personal favorite might be Lyudmila Ulitskaya, but I don't think it'll be her. I'm guessing Gerald Murnane or Alexis Wright. Both are from Australia and both deserve it.
Johannes Klenell, culture editor at the newspaper Arbetet:
What we do know is that it won't be the Nobel Prize-winning Leonardo DiCaprio, that is, Haruki Murakami. It was also just too soon for another East Asian laureate, and it should be every other woman's turn. But if I'm going to bend one of the rules and the woke years, according to Erik Helmerson, are actually over, maybe a male South American would be a workable compromise? Then the Argentine César Aira would have been fun.
