Nobel Prize In Literature

The Nobel Prize in Literature (Swedish: Nobelpriset i litteratur) is awarded annually to an author from any country who has, in the words from the will of Alfred Nobel, produced "the most outstanding work of an idealistic tendency". The Swedish Academy decides who, if anyone, will receive the prize in any given year and announces the name of the chosen laureate in early October.

 Nobel's choice of emphasis on "idealistic" or "ideal" (in English translation) in his criteria for the Nobel Prize in Literature has led to recurrent controversy. (In the original Swedish, the word idealisk can be translated as either "idealistic" or "ideal.) In the early twentieth century, the Nobel Committee interpreted the intent of the will strictly and did not award certain world-renowned authors of the time such as Leo Tolstoy and Henrik Ibsen. More recently, the wording has been interpreted more liberally, and the Prize is awarded both for lasting literary merit and for evidence of consistent idealism on some significant level, most recently a kind of idealism championing human rights on a broad scale.

Nomination Procedure

Each year the Swedish Academy sends out requests for nominations of candidates for the Nobel Prize in Literature. Members of the Academy, members of literature academies and societies, professors of literature and language, former Nobel literature laureates, and the presidents of writers' organizations are all allowed to nominate a candidate. However, it is not possible to nominate oneself.

Thousands of requests are sent out each year, and about fifty proposals are returned. These proposals must be received by the Academy by February 1, after which they are examined by the Nobel Committee. By April, the Academy narrows the field to around twenty candidates, and by summer the list is reduced further to some five names. The subsequent months are then spent in reviewing the works of eligible candidates. In October that year, members of the Academy vote, and the candidate who receives more than half the number of votes is named the Nobel Laureate in Literature. The process is similar to those of other Nobel Prizes. In principle, nominations and deliberations remain secret for 50 years, but some nominations become known or are so claimed by publicists

The prize money of the Nobel Prize has been fluctuating since its inauguration but as present stands at ten million Swedish kronor. The winner also wins a gold medal and a Nobel diploma and is invited to give a lecture during "Nobel Week" in Stockholm, whose highlight is the prize-giving ceremony and banquet on December 10.

Past Winners

 2007: Doris Lessing from United Kingdom

2006: Orhan Pamuk from Turkey

2005: Harold Pinter from United Kingdom

2004: Elfriede Jelinek from Austria

2003: J. M. Coetzee from Australia