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Nobel Literature Prize Tipped to Favor Western Male Author in 2025
9 Oct
Summary
- Nobel literature prize likely to go to a Western male author in 2025
- Only 18 women have won the Nobel Literature Prize since 1901
- Experts predict a return to European/Western male writers after a woman won in 2024
As the world eagerly awaits the announcement of the 2025 Nobel Literature Prize, experts predict that the prestigious award is likely to go to a Western male author this year. This comes after South Korea's Han Kang made history in 2024 by becoming the first Asian woman to win the Nobel Literature Prize.
The 18-member Swedish Academy, which awards the prize, has insisted that it does not take gender, nationality, or language into consideration when selecting the laureate. However, literary critics in Stockholm have noted a pattern in the past winners, suggesting that the Academy may be making a conscious effort to balance the gender imbalance.
Out of the 121 Nobel Literature Prizes awarded since 1901, only 18 have gone to women. This stark underrepresentation has led the Academy to award the prize to a woman in every other year since a #MeToo scandal rocked the institution in 2018. But with a Western male author tipped to win in 2025, it appears that the Academy may be reverting to its traditional preference for European and Western male writers.
Potential contenders for the 2025 prize include Australia's Gerald Murnane, Romania's Mircea Cartarescu, Hungary's Laszlo Krasznahorkai, and Swiss postmodernist Christian Kracht. While Murnane and Krasznahorkai have the lowest odds on betting sites, the Academy's penchant for shining a spotlight on relatively unknown writers means that the winner could be a surprise.
