What are the odds a Torontonian will win the Nobel Prize in Literature? Not great

This year’s winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature doesn’t get announced until October, but London oddsmaker Ladbrokes is already setting off speculation in the book world as to which lucky scribbler will be heading to Oslo in the late fall to collect a medal. Yesterday, Ladbrokes released its list of likely candidates,  and Japanese novelist Haruki Murakami is the clear favourite, with odds of 10:1. A few Toronto (and honorary Toronto) authors made the list, including Alice Munro (20:1), Margaret Atwood (50:1), Michael Ondaatje (100:1) and, a bit surprisingly, Shyam Selvadurai (100:1), who hasn’t had a book for adults out since 1998. (Selvadurai appears on this slightly older list too, which means he either has a brilliant PR person or there’s an under-reported case of Selvadurai-mania happening out there somewhere.) Obviously, Ladbrokes has no insider intel on what the Nobel committee is thinking, making just so much late-summer debate fodder for bored bibliophiles. What we can predict is that if Atwood is picked, this will be the first year in which the winner live-tweets the ceremony.

(Images: scales, DonkeyHotey; medal, Abhijit Bhaduri; Murakami, wakarimasita; Atwood, Blaues Sofa; Munro, Derek Shapton; Ondaatje, Tulane Public Relations; Selvadurai, Андрей Романенко)