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A Nobel for Amos Oz?

British bookies Ladbrookes favor him

by
Sara Ivry
September 23, 2009
Oz last year.(Uwe Meinhold/AFP/Getty Images)
Oz last year.(Uwe Meinhold/AFP/Getty Images)

Ladbrokes, the famous British oddmakers, is favoring Amos Oz four-to-one for this year’s Nobel Prize in Literature. He’d be the second Israeli to win the prestigious award, after the first was S.Y. Agnon in 1966. Oz, the author of several acclaimed works including the 2004 memoir A Tale of Love and Darkness, is joined on the list by the American perennial Philip Roth, who gets a seven-to-one shot, and countryman A.B. Yehoshua, whose odds of taking home the prize are fairly long at 40-to-one. There’s no word on why Oz is this year’s favorite, but he’s often been mentioned as a contender in recent years. The winner of the prize will be announced later this year in Stockholm.

Sara Ivry is the host of Vox Tablet, Tablet Magazine’s weekly podcast. Follow her on Twitter@saraivry.