As every year since 2009, Paysages tries to forecast the winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature[1]. As every year, the task is very difficult. Two of my long-time favourites, António Lobo Antunes[2] and Marjane Satrapi, passed away this year without getting the Nobel Prize in Literature. Both would have largely merited the prize. In Germany, some voices think Wolf Biermann should be awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature! But I don’t think that he will get the prize. Outside Germany and German-speaking countries like Austria and Switzerland — perhaps with the exception of France — Biermann is widely unknown. But some voices in Germany think that Biermann is something like the German answer to Bob Dylan, who got the prize in 2016. So my more or less „permanent list“ includes Mia Couto, Lyudmila Ulitskaya, Boualem Sansal, Claudio Magris, Adunis, Margaret Atwood, Jamaica Kincaid, Anne Carson, Art Spiegelman, Don DeLillo, Kamel Daoud, Salman Rushdie, Pierre Michon, Richard Powers, David Grossmann and perhaps Can Xue. But this time I don’t have a clear favourite as I had in the last years! Every time I write this blogpost since 2009 — but also along the whole year — the question is: does „Weltliteratur“ really exist? How to define „Weltliteratur“ — or how do I define „Weltliteratur“? And does the Nobel Prize in Literature really reflect „Weltliteratur“, or does it reflect something else?
During this spring, in April 2026, I read the novel „Zugwind“ written by Iryna Fingerova. I thought this novel, which really impressed me, belonged to what I would call „Weltliteratur“! I had the same thoughts concerning the novel „Nelio“ written by Nelio Biedermann. But both authors are very young authors — so currently they won’t compete for the Nobel Prize. But in their writings I could discover something like „Weltliteratur“!
Books quoted:
Biedermann, Nelio: Lázár Roman. Berlin, 2025 . Copyright © 2025 by Rowohlt Berlin Verlag GmbH, Berlin, ISBN 978-3-644-02354-3
Fingerova,Iryna; Walosczyk, Jakob (Übers.): Zugwind. Roman. Aus dem Ukrainischen von Jakob Walosczyk. Hamburg, 2026. Copyright, © 2026 by Rowohlt Verlag GmbH, Hamburg. ISBN 978-3-644-02574-5
Christophe Neff, Grünstadt, 06.10.2026
[1] See also, Le Nobel à Herta Müller ? Der Literaturnobelpreis für Herta Müller ? ,Wer wird den Literaturnobelpreis 2010 verliehen bekommen?, Blognotice 5.10.2011 – neiges automnales & prochain lauréat du Prix Nobel de littérature , Paysages forecast for Nobel Prize in Literature 2012, Paysages forecast for Nobel Prize in Literature 2013, Paysages forecast for Nobel Prize in Literature 2014, Paysages forecast for Nobel Prize in Literature 2015, Paysages forecast for Nobel Prize in Literature 2016, Paysages forecast for Nobel Prize in Literature 2017, Paysages forecast for Nobel Prize in Literature 2018/2019, Paysages forecast for Nobel Prize in Literature 2020 , Paysages forecast for Nobel Prize in Literature 2021, Paysages forecast for Nobel Prize in Literature 2022 ,Paysages forecast for Nobel Prize in Literature 2023 , Paysages forecast for Nobel Prize in Literature 2024 and Paysages’ forecast for Nobel Prize in Literature 2025.
[2] See also Paysages forecast for Nobel Prize in Literature 2024 and Paysages forecast for Nobel Prize in Literature 2018/2019
