THIS FROM THE BOOKSELLER - 9 OCTOBER:

Nobel Prize in Literature announced this week

The winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature will be announced on Thursday, Oct. 11 and odds-makers are trying to figure out who will take home the prize, which is worth 10 million Swedish crowns. The 2006 Nobel Laureate in Literature was Orhan Pamuk.

Ladbrokes, the company that takes bets on the Nobel Prize in Literature, has listed five possibilities for the award, according to Reuters, with Italian novelist and essayist Claudio Magris as the favorite. The others are Australian poet Les Murray, American novelist Philip Roth, Swedish poet Thomas Transtromer and Syrian-Lebanese poet Adonis.

"We have a number of experts who really have their ear to the ground when it comes to Nobel prizes," said Ladbrokes spokesman Nick Weinberg, according to Reuters.
"They keep track of newspaper headlines, speeches of previous winners, any trends that become apparent—people of a certain age win in a certain year or whatever."