The organization that decides the Nobel Prize for Literature has chosen to skip announcing an award this year, after the academy was faced with sexual assault allegations against the husband of a member. Since the allegations surfaced, the member has quit, as have the academy’s head and four other members. The Swedish Academy says it will now annouce the 2018 winner along with the 2019 winner next year, reports BBC. This is the biggest scandal the award has seen since it was first started in 1901. Besides the six years during the world wars, there has only been one year when the prize was not awarded and that is because no winner was found in 1935. However, this year’s other Nobel Prizes will be awarded as usual.
Last November, French photographer Jean-Claude Arnault, who ran a cultural project with funding from the Swedish Academy, was accused of sexual assault by 18 women. Several of the alleged incidents were reported to have happened in properties belonging to the academy. He has denied the allegations. The academy voted against removing Arnault’s wife, the poet and writer Katarina Frostenson, from its committee, which was a decision that divided the organization. Frostenson, however, ended up resigning, along with the head of the academy, Professor Sara Danius.
Thanks for reading InsideHook. Sign up for our daily newsletter and be in the know.
