Nobel Literature Prize Cancelled Over Sexual Assault Allegation

In a very rare occurrence, the Nobel Prize of Literature for 2018 will not be awarded this year, the Swedish Academy said on Friday.

The Swedish Academy, which organizes the Prize, has been engulfed in a scandal over sexual assault allegations.

A string of sexual assault allegations were made against the French photographer Jean-Claude Arnault, the husband of academy member and poet Katarina Frostenson.

She has since quit, as have the academy’s head and four other members.

The scandal is the biggest to hit the Prize since it was first awarded in 1901.

The academy says it will now announce two winners in the 2019 edition.

The Academy said it took the decision “in view of the currently diminished academy and the reduced public confidence in the academy”.

“The active members of the Swedish Academy are of course fully aware that the present crisis of confidence places high demands on a long-term and robust work for change. We find it necessary to commit time to recovering public confidence in the academy before the next laureate can be announced. This is out of respect for previous and future literature laureates, the Nobel Foundation, and the general public,” said Anders Olsson, interim permanent secretary of the academy.