The Swedish Academy announced on Friday morning that there would be no Nobel laureate for literature selected in 2018, as it attempts to come to terms with controversy over its links to a man accused of sexual assault.
“The present decision was arrived at in view of the currently diminished Academy and the reduced public confidence in the Academy,” it said in a statement.
“Work on the selection of a laureate is at an advanced stage and will continue as usual in the months ahead but the Academy needs time to regain its full complement, engage a larger number of active members and regain confidence in its work, before the next Literature Prize winner is declared.”
The Academy also said it aimed to award two prizes in 2019.
The decision, which following a meeting on Thursday, comes after a string of sexual assault allegations made against the French photographer Jean-Claude Arnault, the husband of academy member and poet Katarina Frostenson.
The Swedish Academy said that it took the decision “in view of the currently diminished academy and the reduced public confidence in the academy”.
“The active members of the Swedish Academy are of course fully aware that the present crisis of confidence places high demands on a long-term and robust work for change. We find it necessary to commit time to recovering public confidence in the academy before the next laureate can be announced. This is out of respect for previous and future literature laureates, the Nobel Foundation, and the general public,” said Anders Olsson, interim permanent secretary of the academy.
After the allegations against Arnault were made public in November, three members of the 18-strong jury that selects the literature laureate resigned in protest over the decision not to expel Frostenson.
Arnault was also accused of leaking the names of seven former Nobel winners. He denies both claims.
The post 2018 Nobel Prize In Literature Cancelled Amid Sexual Misconduct Scandal appeared first on 360Nobs.com.
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