Nobel lit award postponed

2018 laureate to be announced in 2019

Stockholm, Sept. 29: In tatters after a #MeToo scandal, the Swedish Academy has postponed this year’s Nobel Literature Prize, leaving an empty page for 2018 as it attempts to reform the venerable institution.

Created in 1786 by King Gustav III and modelled on its French elder, the Swedish Academy has selected the winner of the prestigious literary distinction since it was first awarded in 1901.

The “Holy Grail” of authors, poets, and playwrights, the Nobel has gone to some of the greatest writers of all time, from Albert Camus to Samuel Beckett and Ernest Hemingway.

But the list of recipients also includes US rock icon Bob Dylan, the 2016 choice harshly criticised by some who lambasted the Academy for overlooking other popular and critically-acclaimed authors — such as American novelist Philip Roth, who died in May this year without getting the nod. After the Dylan controversy, the Academy attempted to smooth things over last year with an uncontroversial laureate, Kazuo Ishiguro, a British author of Japanese origin whose nomination enjoyed broad consensus.

But just three weeks after that announcement, the institution again found itself in controversy, this time in the eye of the #MeToo hurricane.

The 2018 laureate will be announced at the same time as the 2019 prize.

“I could see that there were weaknesses in their organisation but I would never have thought something like this could happen,” Lars Heikensten, director of the Nobel Foundation that finances the prizes, said.

With the Academy in shambles and no literature prize to look forward to this year, a group of Swedish cultural figures decided to create their own award pending the Nobel’s return next year.

— AFP

With no literature prize to look forward to this year, a group of Swedish cultural figures decided to create their own award pending the Nobel’s return.