Syrian poet Adonis tipped as Nobel Prize nominee

30 september 2011 The Nobel Prize season opens on Monday, and The National is speculating about the nominees. There is suggestion among those in Stockholm’s literary circles that the recent events in the Middle East might play a role in the Swedish Academy’s choice of nominees for the Literature Prize, with Syrian poet Adonis tipped. On the other hand, the Academy’s non-political agenda for the prize may mean the chances of an Arab writer being nominated are low.

However, Nobel Prize nominations cannot be made public for 50 years. So if Adonis doesn’t win the Literature Prize, we will have to be patient in finding out whether he did in fact reach the final selection round this year.