It’s That Season for Nobel Prizes again and a Kenyan Is Among Favorites For One Of the Awards

Around this time every year, the Nobel prizes get to be awarded to deserving winners pioneers in their fields who have outdone themselves mostly in sciences.

The Nobel Prize for Medicine or Physiology has already been awarded on Monday to William C. Campbell and Satoshi Ōmura “for their discoveries concerning a novel therapy against infections caused by roundworm parasites” and to Youyou Tu “for her discoveries concerning a novel therapy against Malaria”.

This year’s awards for Chemistry and Physics are yet to be given out with the latter expected to be announced today. However, Kenyan interests lie in two other prizes, the Nobel Peace Prize and the Nobel Prize in Literature.

Our interest in the latter comes after the Late Wangari Maathai became the first Kenyan and first lady from Africa to win the prize. This year round as it was last year, prolific writer Professor Ngugi Wa Thiong’o is still a favorite for the Nobel Prize in Literature having missed out last year. The Literature prize has in the past eluded acclaimed writers like the Late Chinua Achebe for their contribution to the field. There has always been debate on influence of Ngugi wa Thiong’o’s writings and few have tried to explain why despite such an incredible body of work he has missed out on the prize. However, no one will begrudge him should he lift the prize whose winner is set to be announced later in the week before the Friday announcement for the Nobel Peace Prize 2015 winner.