As with the Nobel Peace Prize, a wide range ofpeople have the right to propose names for the literature prize, including former laureates, members of the swedish Academy, heads of national literary societies and literature academics from around the world. For the 2015 prize, to be awarded in October, Englund said that 198 names are currently on the list, including 36 new names As in previous years the number will be reduced to between 20 and 25 in April and cut down to just five in May Certain authors such as US novelists Joyce Carol Ontes and Philip Roth as well as the Japanese writer Haruki Murakami are regularly rumoured to be on the shortlist though it is unclear how much of that speculation is based on leak The list of candidates nominated for the prize is kept secret for 50 years. AFP