I don’t know why, but I always get excited during Nobel Prize in Literature season. Awards really shouldn’t mean anything in the long run, and many great writers have never been awarded a Nobel Prize. Still, I can’t help it. I like guessing who’s going to win, and once a winner is selected, finding all the author’s works and reading as much as I can by him or her.

Every year I hope that W.S. Merwin wins the award. His poetry is excellent, but it’s his translation work that should guarantee him the prize. He and Robert Bly have introduced me to so many writers through their translations that I would have never known. In fact, let’s give the prize to both Bly and Merwin.

As usual, the U.K. odds maker Ladbrokes has been regularly releasing the latest odds on who will win. As of this blog entry, it’s Haruki Murakami at 2/1 odds. Another favorite of mine, Cormac McCarthy, is at 16/1 odds. The writer who is last on its list, though, is the most perplexing. At 500/1 odds, E.L. James of Fifty Shades of Gray fame is predicted to win the Nobel Prize in Literature.

I took a screenshot of that listing just to remind myself of how silly awards can be. But still, Merwin should totally win.