Chimamanda Adichie, a celebrated Nigerian author and novelist may not win the coveted Nobel Prize for literature now or in the nearest future because she is considered “probably too young.”
A Swedish literary critic Jonas Thente said he hopes that Nigerian author, Adichie is awarded a Nobel Prize in October 2021.
Thente, a literary editor and critic at Dagens Nyheter in Sweden, however, said he fears that the 44-year-old Adichie is “probably too young” to be awarded a Nobel Laureate.
The youngest laureate to date was Rudyard Kipling, who was honoured at the age of 41 in 1907.
The event did not hold in 2018 after a #MeToo scandal – on gender imbalance – caused the 2018 prize to be postponed.
Swedish Academy has promised new criteria that would lead to a more global and gender-equal literature prize.
Since then, two women have taken home the honour: Polish novelist Olga Tokarczuk for 2018, and the American poet Louise Gluck last year.
But the 2019 winner, Austria’s Peter Handke, was a controversial pick.
His pro-Serbian positions extended to backing Serbia’s former president Slobodan Milosevic, who was on trial for genocide when he died in 2006.
Thente’s stance aligns with that of critics who have pointed out that some non-Western writers are available for the Nobel prize.
Kenya’s Ngugi wa Thiong’o is regularly mentioned as an African author worthy of the prize, as are Somalia’s Nuruddin Farah or Mozambique’s Mia Couto.
South Korea’s Ko Un’s star may have faded following accusations of sexual assault, but India’s Vikram Seth and China’s Can Xue, Yan Lianke and Lao Yiwu (pen name Lao Wei) have also been cited as potential winners.
Caribbean-American Jamaica Kincaid and Maryse Conde of Guadeloupe have also been touted for the prize.
