Two Nobel Prize in Literature awards scheduled for 2019

The Nobel Prize in Literature will be awarded twice this year after the Swedish Academy postponed 2018’s event over a sexual assault scandal, reports the Bookseller.

In a statement, the Nobel Foundation said it would award laureates for 2018 and 2019 in the second half of the year and was taking steps aimed at ‘restoring trust in the academy as a prize-awarding institution’.

The Swedish Academy will no longer have any members who are subject to conflict of interest or criminal investigations and will include five independent external members to help select the Nobel Laureates. The foundation is also considering reforms such as time-limited membership of the Academy rather than life membership, and reassessing the handling of expulsions in the future.

French photographer Jean-Claude Arnault, who is married to Academy member Katarina Frostenson, was convicted of rape in October and sentenced to prison for two years. The initial allegations led to nearly half of Academy members resigning their posts.

Guadeloupean novelist Maryse Condé was awarded the 2018 New Academy Prize, which was established as a replacement for the 2018 Nobel Prize in Literature.

Category: International news