No Nobel Literature Prize in 2018

The Swedish Academy said the Nobel Prize in literature will not be awarded this year following sex-abuse allegations and other issues within its ranks that have tarnished the body’s reputation. The academy said on Friday the 2018 prize will be given in 2019. The decision was made at a weekly meeting in Stockholm on the grounds that the academy is in no shape to pick a winner after a string of sex abuse allegations and financial crimes scandals, AP reported. In a statement, the academy said the decision “was arrived at in view of the currently diminished academy and the reduced public confidence in the academy.” It will be the first time since wartime 1943 that the prestigious award is not handed out. The Swedish Academy, a council of prestigious authors and linguists elected for life, has been dealing with the fallout of allegations of sexual misconduct by the husband of one of its members and leaks of names of some prize-winners ahead of the formal announcements. Photographer and cultural figure Jean-Claude Arnault, who is married to academy member and author Katarina Frostenson, has denied all allegations, both of sexual misconduct and of leaking the names of the laureates. Six of the academy’s 18 members have stepped down following the controversy that surfaced late last year while two other members were already not participating in the academy’s work for other reasons. The Swedish Academy said in a statement last month that it was suffering a serious crisis and acknowledged that trust in the institution had been undermined.