The Nobel Literary Prize rumour mill gained momentum yesterday as the countdown began for the announcement of this year's winner, which could be made as early as next Thursday. Names such as Jose Saramago of Portugal, Hugo Claus of Belgium and Cees Nooteboom of The Netherlands figured prominently among prospects for the prize, which this year is worth 7.5 million Swedish crowns (£682,000). No hints are ever given by the Swedish Academy, the committee which awards the accolade. Even the date of the announcement is by tradition revealed only a couple days in advance. The award, however, is always made on a Thursday in October.
Other prize dates have already been announced. The medicine prize will be revealed next Monday, the peace prize on Friday in Oslo, the economics prize on October 14th and the physics and chemistry prizes on October 15th.
Besides Saramago, Claus and Nooteboom - all of whom were also tipped last year as possible winners - literary experts say Antonio Lobo Antunes of Portugal and Jorge Amado of Brazil also deserve to win.
Experts said the prize would probably go to a novelist, since poets have won the prize two years running - Wislawa Szymborska of Poland in 1996 and Seamus Heaney of Ireland a year earlier. Other names which have emerged as possible candidates include Ismail Kadare of Albania, Americans John Updike and Norman Mailer, Jaan Kross of Estonia and Carlos Fuentes of Mexico.