Nobel Prize for Literature 2013

And The Winner Is

Canadian short story writer Alice Munro, 82. Interestingly, Munro had told an interviewer earlier this year that she is "probably not going to write anymore." The Nobel Prize for Literature is awarded for an author's body of work rather than for a specific work; Munro's last collection of stories, Dear Life, was both a critical and a commercial success. 

Although the Nobel Committee winnows a longlist of twenty authors down to a shortlist of five, the workings of the committee--including the names on the shortlist--are a closely guarded secret, not only during the process, but for fifty years after. 

Here are some fun facts about the Nobel Prize for Literature (taken from the Official Website of the Nobel Prize):

• There have been 106 Nobel Prizes in Literature awarded since 1901.
• Of the 106 Nobel Laureates, 27 have written in the English language; of these, 9 have gone to American authors (most recently to Toni Morrison in 1993).
• 13 of the Nobel Laureates in Literature have been women; 6 of these 13 have been awarded in the last two decades.
• The Nobel Prize in Literature has been declined twice: once in 1958 by Boris Pasternak, who was forced by authorities of the Soviet Union to decline; then again in 1964 by Jean Paul Sartre, who had declined every prize offered to him.

Next up in this year's literary award schedule is the Man Booker Prize, which will be announced on October 15th.