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With the announcement of the Nobel Literature Prize just days away, speculation over this year's winner is rife in Stockholm's literary circles where Philip Roth, Amos Oz, Adonis and Mario Vargas Llosa are all again tipped as favourites.
In line with tradition, the Swedish Academy which awards the prestigious prize is keeping mum.
But everyone who is anyone in Stockholm's literary scene has an opinion.
"The only thing that has been very clear, explicitly, is that witness literature is well-placed," Jonas Axelsson, an editor at Bonnier, one of Sweden's biggest publishing houses, told AFP.
"We have often thought that writers coming from war zones could be honoured," he said, adding that in such case, Israeli author "Amoz Oz would be very appropriate."
Horace Engdahl, the permanent secretary of the Swedish Academy, is known to be fond of "literature that has witnessed reality", having organized a symposium on the subject in 2001 to mark the centenary of the first Nobel prizes.
And the 2002 and 2003 literature prizes went to writers in that genre, Hungary's Imre Kertesz and J.M. Coetzee of South Africa.
The Literature Prize is the only Nobel whose announcement date is not given far in advance, the Swedish Academy only revealing the big day 48 hours ahead of time.
Traditionally it is a Thursday, so it will likely fall on October 5 or October 12.
Like the other Nobels, the Literature Prize comes with a cheque for 10 million kronor (1.37 million dollars, 1.07 million euros).
For Jonas Axelsson, other possible winners are Czech author Milan Kundera and Philip Roth of the US, who has been rumoured to be in the running for years.
In order to win the prize, a laureate must have already appeared on the Academy's short list, Axelsson explained.
"I am sure that these two writers have been on the list," he said.
But for Stephen Farran-Lee, senior editor at Norstedts publishing house, novelist Joyce Carol Oates is "the American author who is best placed", though he tips Syrian poet Adonis, the pseudonym for Ali Ahmad Said Esber, and Orhan Pamuk of Turkey as most likely winners.
However, he would also like to see Japan's Haruki Murakami take the top honour.
"The Academy's choices have become less predictable over the years ... In the 1980s we had the feeling that they had an agenda ... (awarding the prize) by continent, genre, gender ... but now you never know what's going to happen," Farran-Lee said.
"They managed to surprise the entire world last year with (British playwright Harold) Pinter, I'm sure they could surprise us again," he said.
Among other names circulating are Swedish poet Tomas Transtroemer and French novelist J.-M. G. Le Clezio, or a woman, such as Algeria's Assia Djebar and Doris Lessing of Britain.
According to Gunilla Sandin, the program director for the Gothenburg Book Fair, the biggest in Sweden, gender is not taken into consideration by Academy members.
But, she added, "even if you should not base your literary judgment on gender, it is about time for a woman to get the prize."
South Korean poet Ko Un, author Cees Noteboom of the Netherlands and Carlos Fuentes of Mexico are also on pundits' lips, as are Indian-born British author Salman Rushdie and Poland's literary journalist Ryszard Kapuscinski.
On the online betting site Ladbrokes.com, punters are putting their money on Orhan Pamuk, who tops the list with 3-to-1 odds, ahead of Adonis at 4-to-1, Ryszard Kapuscinski at 5-to-1, Joyce Carol Oates at 6-to-1, Philip Roth at 10-to-1 ... and far behind, US singer-songwriter Bob Dylan at 500-to-1.
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AFP 291051 GMT 09 06
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