The Nobel Prize in Literature
What is the Nobel Prize for Literature?
It’s the Daddy of all book awards. The Nobel Prize in Literature has been awarded each year since 1901 to an author from any country who has produced (in the words of Alfred Nobel’s will) “the most outstanding work of an idealistic tendency”.
The importance of the Nobel can be seen in the amount of controversy the Swedish Academy causes with the decisions they reveal each year – the “idealistic tendency” referred to in the will commonly being translated by the Academy to mean “political activism”.
It is without doubt the most serious book award on the planet, and nobody takes it more seriously than the Nobel Academy themselves. Note that it’s an award “in Literature”, not “for Literature” or - heaven forbid - “for Books”. Terry Pratchett is unlikely to be nominated any time soon.
What do you get for winning a Nobel Prize?
The Nobel Prize winner gets given a medal, a diploma and 10,000,000 Swedish Krona (about £700,000) by the King of Sweden, and gets an immeasurable boost to their reputation.
Who won it last year?
The current laureate is the UK’s Doris Lessing.
When does the Swedish Academy announce its shortlist?
A long list of about 50 authors is produced by the Swedish Academy in February of each year, which is then studied by the Nobel committee. By the summer the list has been whittled down to around five names.
When is the Nobel Laureate in Literature announced?
The Nobel Laureate in Literature - known by the rest of the world as “the winner” - is announced by the Academy in October. To win, a writer must have polled more than half the votes cast by the judging panel. The prize itself is awarded at a gala dinner in Stockholm on 10 December.
More information can be found on Wikipedia’s Nobel Prize in Literature entry. It is particularly good on the ‘non-laureates and controversies’.
Read more on the official Nobel foundation website.
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