[A. E. Stallings]

More recent, William Hill:

https://twitter.com/sharpeangle/stat...21511517896704

[A. E. Stallings]

And, rather bizarrely, William Hill wishes us luck:
https://twitter.com/sharpeangle/stat...70107743264768

[Matt Q]

Ladbrokes now offer their odds along with some verse.

[A. E. Stallings]

Too bad they didn't workshop that on the Deep End

[John Whitworth]

I think being a black African is a considerable help.

[W.F. Lantry]

Originally Posted by John Whitworth

I think being a black African is a considerable help.

Honestly, John, this is beneath you, and it doesn't help Alicia, especially after what happened last time around.

Besides, Soyinka literally changed the course of world literature. When he was coming up, everything in Black Francophone literature was flowing in the wake of Senghor's and Césaire's Negritude movement. Soyinka came along and said "Un tigre ne proclame pas sa tigritude, il saute sur sa proie." An extremely un-literal translation of that would be "The tiger doesn't walk through the forest saying, 'I'm a tiger, I'm a tiger.' The tiger roars!"

He has millions of devoted followers worldwide. Young writers still look up to him. For you to reduce him to his cultural and geographical identity is beyond the pale, and reveals a lack of knowledge of his work and influence. You're a better man than that.

[A. E. Stallings]

I think being a Nobel Laureate is a considerable help! Also, his campaign has been rather nice to me.

[John Whitworth]

Bill, he maybe all the things you say, but it is still true that being a black African is a considerable help. Being a woman is probably also a help but not so much.

[Duncan Gillies MacLaurin]

Talking of Africans, here's my hopeful tip for a future Oxford Professor of Poetry: Ben Okri. I heard him in Edinburgh three years ago and met him afterwards. What a combination of soul, chutzpah, charisma and eloquence. Just wow!

Duncan

[John Whitworth]

Duncan, I have looked up Ben Okri's poetry and it is very bad indeed.