As of 1 p.m. today, 18 of the 122 Nobel laureates have been women.
This year, that figure may change slightly. Betsson, Ladbrokes and the American prediction market platform Kalshi all have Can Xue and Anne Carson at the top of their lists.
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 László Krasznahorkai last year.
“It sometimes feels like there’s 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, literature editor at Swedish Radio.
Straight from the printing press
So far, the Nobel Prize in Literature has also gone to authors whose work had already been translated into Swedish, to varying degrees. Several of this year’s favorites have also been translated recently. Canadian author Anne Carson’s “Fel Norma”, a collection of short texts, has come more or less straight from the printing press.
“Carpentaria” by Alexis Wright was also recently published, the second of the Australian author’s two most acclaimed and award-winning novels. Wright is Waanyi and writes about Aboriginal people in a world facing an acute climate crisis and centuries of oppression.
Mexico’s most famous
Only an excerpt from the novel “No One Will See Me Cry” by Cristina Rivera Garza, one of Mexico’s most famous authors, is currently available in Swedish. She is also being tipped for the prize, and Rámus will publish the novel in full in December.
The long-anticipated Jamaica Kincaid recently received the honorary Sjöjungfrun prize at the Gothenburg Book Fair. This autumn, Tranan has published several of her titles in new editions, as well as a new anthology of autobiographical texts.
At 1 p.m. today, Ingrid Carlberg, the Academy’s permanent secretary, will announce this year’s laureate.
The prize money is 12 million kronor (about $1.1 million).
The most recent laureates are László Krasznahorkai (2025), Han Kang (2024), Jon Fosse (2023), Annie Ernaux (2022) and Abdulrazak Gurnah (2021).
