Ok, let´s start with 4 names that would make me very happy if any of them would win (in brackets, their ages):
Ko Un (83) - I can say he is my favorite living poet. I believe he has a very deep understanding of man and nature - more specific, man´s soul in the universe. Of course it´s hard to judge a poet we read only in translation, but even losing cadence and rhyme, I fell very affected by his words. One thing that I believe plays against him is that his work is quite long, so the Academy must have a very good translator so they could read everything Ko Un wrote. I myself have read about 150 poems by him, and that´s not even, I believe, 10% of his work. Another point I hope don´t count against him is his religiosity. A buddhist, reading his poems there are some conceptions that may be strange to western citizens. Anyway, on the plus side, another thing that must be praised is his care and strugle towards the Korean language. Eg, he is part of a group that works toward avoiding that the Korean spoken in both Koreas became too far apart. As those countries live in worlds apart, the language is changing bit by bit, so without this work they will lost the common base.
Ngugi Wa Thiong´o (78) - They didn´t give the prize to Chinua Achebe, and they should have. And imo Ngugi is stronger than Achebe. I have read 4 books by him and he seems to me to be a great storyteller, a keeper of tradition, a defender of education and emancipation, a man with a great sense of his own history and the history of his people. Needless to say that Africa is a forgotten continent even in literature, and for me he is high above the other living African writers (that have not been awarded yet). On the negative side, his work is not constant - between Matagari and The Wizard of the Crown it has 15 years apart, and after WotC, nothing else until now (it seems a new novel will be published next year) - and even though I never read his plays, for what I´ve read about, they are weak. And the Academy must be able to judge him not only as an English writer, but also as a writer in Gikuyu. He is sometimes a bit offensive with other writers and sometimes a bit arrogant (he used to say that he should win the Nobel, and he has openly criticized African writers that write in English), but on the whole a very deserving writer.
Ismail Kadare (80) - I haven´t enjoyed everything I have read from him, but he has a long and amazing career. And writing some lesser stories now doesn´t diminish his work and importance. He tells about many aspects of the history of mankind/eastern Europe that would be forgotten/ignored, and that´s something the Academy is found of awarding. But, like Ko Un and Ngugi, I wonder if is that case of - "if he was to win, he would have already won it". Those three writers are quite old, so... let´s say it´s almost "now or never" for them.
Cesar Aira (67) - I love his works. And I´ll be sincere - for me he is a genius. Even his worst book is still a lot of fun, intelligent, smart. They grip me hard, always subverting what I would expect from a story. A vanguardist, someone that is showing the way to future writers. Also, a thinker - his essays about literature and art are top notch. A bit too strange, maybe, but the Academy has chosen excentric people before. Also, he is a "grower" - once read you can´t forget his words, and they become clearer and with more meaning as the time goes by.
