Albanian writer Ismail Kadare is among the contenders for the Nobel Prize in Literature. Although the nominees have not been made public, there is always speculation as to who they might be.
Among those rumored is Russian author Lyudmila Ulitskaya. The Kremlin critic is known for her novels dealing with personal relationships.
Her first novel "Sonechka" was published in Novy Mir in 1992. The book immediately became extremely famous. She has already won several international and Russian literary prizes, one of which is the Russian Booker for her book The Kukotsky Affair in 2001.
Salman Rushdie of "The Satanic Verses" is also one of the rumored recipients of the prestigious award. The British writer of Indian origin survived an extremist knife attack last year in the US, where he lost an eye.
AFP has reported that there is a possibility that the Academy will honor Can Xue, an avant-garde Chinese writer and literary critic.
Can Hue's mainly writes short fiction. Her writing is characterized by a break from the realism of modern Chinese writers of previous years.
An AFP report said there are several other names. These include Romanian author Mircea Cartarescu, Hungarians Peter Nadas and Laszlo Krasznahorkai, Ismail Kadare, Kenyan writer Ngugi wa Thiong'o and Canadian Margaret Atwood.
The Nobel Prize in Literature is expected to be announced on October 8.