SWEDEN
NPR
May 4, 2018
The Swedish Academy, responsible for handing out the annual Nobel Prize in literature, says it will not present the award this year as it struggles to contain the damage from a major sex-abuse scandal.
Anders Olsson, the acting permanent secretary of the Stockholm-based body, announced that the 2018 prize would instead be given in 2019, a decision that “was arrived at in view of the currently diminished Academy and the reduced public confidence in the Academy,” according to 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 said.
It would be the first time since 1943 – in the midst of World War II – that the prestigious prize has not been awarded.
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