The Nobels kick off next week. Traditionally, the Swedish Academy reveals the date (always a Thursday) for the literature award only hours in advance, but since the Nobel week once again coincides with the Frankfurt Book Fair, the 9th seems likely. Other sources have been more assiduous in tracking the speculation; I recommend the doughty Michael Orthofer at The Literary Saloon at the Complete Review for a, well, complete review. The cheerily named NicerOdds (owned by one Håkan Klingén, whose diacritic suggests an inner track to the Academy) has aggregated odds from the various books, useful for tracking both usual suspects and outliers (Don Paterson? Patrick Modiano?). Haruki Murakami and Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o look to be the unanimous frontrunners, with Algeria's Assia Djebar in close pursuit. There's still plenty of time to place your wager here. In the meantime, I'm off to see South Korea's best bet, WWB favorite Ko Un. Could this be his last appearance before . . .  ? Watch this space Thursday to find out.