Literature Nobel: How Is Winner Chosen? Selection Panel Member Explains

On a day that the winner of Nobel Prize in Literature 2022 was announced -- French author Annie Ernaux was declared — a committee member explained how, to be chosen, a writer's work needs "that extra dimension" which is "very difficult to explain".

"The romantics call it 'a divine spark'," said Ellen Mattson, a Swedish novelist, who addressed key questions in a video on the Nobel Prize social media handles just hours before the big reveal.

“Absolutely not,” she said on whether a writer's personality matters in the selection. If it's about personality that reflects through the work, that matters, she said, “But we never look at personal life. That is totally irrelevant.”

There was speculation this year that British-Indian author Salman Rushdie may be in the running, particularly after he was attacked in August over his writings.

This year's #NobelPrize laureate in literature Annie Ernaux has said that writing is a political act, opening our eyes for social inequality. For this purpose she uses language as “a knife”, as she calls it, to tear apart the veils of imagination. pic.twitter.com/TQm6rxjvMp

— The Nobel Prize (@NobelPrize) October 6, 2022

The nominations are not officially revealed for at least 50 years, though committee members and officials in the know often share information off the record.

But who can, officially, be in the running?

“There is a system for nominations. Otherwise it'll be overwhelming,” Ms Mattson said. “There are people all over the world who are entitled to nominate. These are scholars, critics, spokespersons for literary organisations, other academies. Previous laurates can nominate and, of course, the members of the Swedish Academy,” she explained.

The Swedish Academy with 18 members makes the final decision after a smaller group – the Nobel Committee for Literature – sends recommendations from among the nominations.

Theoretically, anyone can be nominated, said Ms Mattson, who is a member of both.

The process begins at over a year before the final announcement in October.

On evaluation criteria, Ellen Mattson shared her own method: “The winner is someone whose work has a power, a development that lasts through all [of their] books”.

“It's something you are born with, I think. For me, it's a voice that I hear in the writing that I find in this particular writer's work and nowhere else,” she said, but underlined, “You can develop the talent – hard work is not unimportant – but you cannot create it within you. That's been my belief.”