Ko Un has sixth largest chance to win Nobel Prize in Literature

Ko Un has sixth largest chance to win Nobel Prize in Literature. October. 11, 2016 07:46. by 김지영기자 kimjy@donga.com. Korean poet Ko Un (83) ranked the 6th among candidates for the Nobel Prize for Literature, of which the winner will be announced on Thursday.

Ladbrokes, a U.K.-based online betting and gambling company, picked Ko Un as the top 6 of its favorites to win the 2016 Nobel Prize in Literature, with a chance of 14/1. Ko has been recently moved up after being at top 11 last month and 13 earlier this month. Ladbrokes is noted for predicting Svetlana Alexievich, a Belarusian writer, as the winner of last year’s prize.

The chart seems to be getting murkier as the date approaches. Japanese novelist Haruki Murakami, who stayed at the top since last month, was brought down to the second at 5/1, giving his place to Ngugi wa Thiong'o, a Kenyan writer who had been at the fourth place. Some speculate that the Swedish Academy is likely to prefer the Kenyan novelist who has criticized his government to Haruki, who writes more popular fictions.