2018 Nobel Prize for Literature cancelled

The Swedish Academy on Friday announced that there would be no Nobel laureate for literature in 2018.

This is the first time in 75 years, the secretive jury that hands out the world’s most prestigious literary award will not unveil a winner this year, instead revealing two winners in 2019.

The decision came after a meeting yesterday to discuss a string of sexual assault allegations made against a French photographer, Jean-Claude Arnault, who is the husband of academy member and poet Katarina Frostenson.

Arnault was also accused of leaking the names of seven former Nobel winners. He denied both claims.

After the allegations were first made public in November, three members of the 18-strong jury that selects the winner resigned in protest over the decision not to expel Frostenson.

With academy members are engaging in unprecedented fights in the Swedish press, permanent secretary of the academy, Sara Danius, also resigned on 12 April to widespread protests in Sweden.

The Nobel prize for literature has not been awarded on six previous occasions since its launch in 1901, although previously never over a scandal: in 1914, 1918, 1935, 1940, 1941, 1942, and 1943.

The prize was paused during the first and second world wars and was not awarded in 1935 for reasons never disclosed.