Nobel Literature Prize to be announced October 8

(AFP) -

The winner of the Nobel Literature Prize will be announced on Thursday, October 8, the Swedish Academy said on Friday.

Its permanent secretary Peter Englund will make the much-awaited announcement in Stockholm at 1:00 pm (1100 GMT).

The date of the literature prize attribution is revealed only a few days in advance, while the dates for the other prizes are known several months ahead of time.

The Nobel season kicks off Monday with the announcement of the medicine prize, followed by the physics prize on Tuesday and chemistry on Wednesday.

The literature laureate is traditionally revealed on a Thursday during the Nobel week.

The peace prize winner is scheduled to be announced on Friday, and the economics prize on Monday, October 12.

In line with tradition, the Swedish Academy gave no indication of its choice for the literature prize. It never reveals the names it is considering, and its deliberations are sealed for 50 years.

No favourites have emerged for the 2009 prize, but Stockholm literary circles have suggested that it is time for the prize to be given to a poet. The last poet to win was Wislawa Szymborska of Poland in 1996.

Last year, the award went to French author Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clezio.