Let's All Be Wrong about the Nobel in Literature!

[ValenciaQBowl]

Hey, it's that time of year again! With the expectation that a bunch of mildly corrupt Swedes will designate someone as worthy of lifetime prize on Thursday, we have less than 48 hours to publicly select the wrong person, so let's hurry.

I'm switching from my usual standby of Ladbrokes to Nicer Odds for a helpful list. Check this link:
https://www.nicerodds.co.uk/nobel-prize-in-literature

I'll admit I haven't heard of Maryse Conde, who is a big favorite in the odds above. But I imagine the committee will want to try to correct for the pick of genocide-praiser Peter Handke last year, and one way to do that is to pick a woman of color, born in Guadaloupe, who has written extensively about Africa. This seems like smart money. And if any of y'all have read her, I'd love to hear about it.

I personally, however, prefer to pick wildly in hopes of a bigger score. So I'm going to go with Ngugi wa Thiong'o! At least I've read (and taught) some of his stuff, and he still fits the non-European, non-US bill.

So, who you got?

[AKKOLADE]

Bob Dylan is definitely not winning this year.

[ValenciaQBowl]

Maybe for Peace, though? Or chemistry!

[Good Goblin Housekeeping]

Rude of you to not use ladbrokes. I for one would love to make a case for the late Amos Oz

[ValenciaQBowl]

Sure, it does have "lad" in the name.

[meebles127]

My extremely unserious guess is Ondaatje.

[ValenciaQBowl]

I think Canada is limited to one winner per century, and Alice Munro won in 2013, so.

(I know some of you are going to note that there wasn't a Canadian winner in the 20th century, but Saul Bellow spent a weekend in Montreal once, which counts).

[Ehtna]

It's official, Louise Glück has swept all the Nobel prizes in literature this year.

I will now sit and wait patiently for Haruki Murakami to redeem himself from Killing Commendatore, but until then I'm playing the long game and rooting for him getting 2024.

[ValenciaQBowl]

Dang, Ngugi and Murakami are never going to win.

I've enjoyed a few Gluck poems when they appear in The New Yorker and such, but her quiet poems don't seem like the kind of thing to wow the Swedes. But hey, congrats to her. Of course, picking an American this year probably means that Cormac McCarthy may die before he gets one.

[RexSueciae]

I'm honestly just amazed that Milan Kundera is still alive.

[The Stately Rhododendron]

Louise Glück - advisor to quizbowl star Laurence Li!