Literature Nobel to be announced Oct. 13, later than usual

The panel that awards the Nobel Prize in literature says this year's winner will be announced on Oct. 13, a week later than in previous years.

Swedish Academy member Per Wastberg confirmed the date to The Associated Press on Friday.

Normally the literature award is announced in the same week as the other Nobel Prizes which are set for next week but Wastberg said this year will be different because of the academy's schedule.

He said the academy always meets four Thursdays in a row in the fall to discuss Nobel candidates, starting the penultimate Thursday in September.

This year that day fell on Sept. 22, later than usual, meaning the fourth and final meeting will be held Oct. 13.

The Swedish Academy is typically the last of the Nobel Prize-awarding institutions to set the date of its announcement. Amid the secrecy of the Nobel process, a later date can set off speculation about disagreements in the academy, which Wastberg insisted was not the case this year.

"It's just math," he said.

The literature date completes the schedule for this year's Nobel Prize announcements, which start Monday with the medicine prize, followed by physics on Tuesday, chemistry on Wednesday and the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday.

The Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, added to the other awards in 1968 through a donation by Sweden's central bank, will be announced on Oct. 10.

Each prize is worth 8 million Swedish kronor, or about $1.2 million Cdn.