We’re fully in the swing of Nobel Prize announcements week. Between 2-9 October, all the winners of the most coveted awards in their fields will be announced.

On Monday, the scientists behind the mRNA Covid vaccines won the Nobel Prize in Medicine. Yesterday, scientists using light pulses to study electrons won the Nobel Prize in Physics. And today, the scientists who discovered quantum dots won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

But it’s Thursday's announcement, the Nobel Prize in Literature, that has the Culture desk most excited. Awarded since 1901, the Nobel laureates have been celebrated for having, according to Alfred Nobel’s initial guidelines, “in the field of literature, produced the most outstanding work in an idealistic direction.”