The writer from Boliqueime is among the most heavily tipped names in international betting ahead of Thursday's announcement
Lídia Jorge could become the second Portuguese writer to win the Nobel Prize in Literature when the Swedish Academy names its laureate on Thursday, 7 October. The Algarve-born novelist is among the names most fancied by international bookmakers, in a list that once again puts Portuguese authors in the running for the world's most prestigious literary honour.
With a 46-year career behind her and a body of work widely admired abroad, Jorge is being offered at odds similar to those of Canada's Margaret Atwood and France's Michel Houellebecq. Ahead of her are China's Can Xue, Japan's Haruki Murakami, and Australia's Gerald Murnane.
Fellow Portuguese writer Gonçalo M. Tavares also features among the favourites. Tavares, whose O Fim dos Estados Unidos da América (literally, The End of the United States of America) came out last November, was awarded this year's Formentor Prize for Literature.
Born in Boliqueime, in the municipality of Loulé, Jorge made her debut in 1980 with O Dia dos Prodígios (The Day of the Prodigies) and went on to become one of the leading voices in contemporary Portuguese literature. Among her best-known works is A Costa dos Murmúrios (The Murmuring Coast), published in 1988 and later adapted for the big screen.
The winner will be announced on Thursday 8 October, as part of Nobel announcement week. Should the prize go to Jorge, she would be Portugal's second literature laureate, after José Saramago, honoured in 1998.
Source: Jornal do Algarve
Photo credit: Ana Baião
