TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Nobel literature body rejigs committee after sex scandal
The body that picks the winner of the annual Nobel Prize in Literature is setting up a new selection committee.
Change Size
The old Stock Exchange Building, home of the Swedish Academy in Stockholm on May 3, 2018. (AFP/Fredrik Sandberg/TT News Agency)
T
he body that picks the winner of the annual Nobel Prize in Literature is setting up a new selection committee in a bid to draw a line under a sex scandal that forced it to cancel this year's prize.
After discussions with the Nobel Foundation, which administers the will of the prize's founder, dynamite-millionaire Alfred Nobel, the Swedish Academy said its new committee would have five of its own members and five external experts that could pick winners in 2019 and 2020.
It gave no further information and could not immediately be reached for comment.
It remains uncertain whether, and under what circumstances, the award would return next year.
Read also: Nobel literature award body asks scandal-hit member to quit
Lars Heikensten, chief executive of the Nobel Foundation, told Reuters in an email:
"Early next year a decision on whether a Nobel prize for literature can be awarded for 2018 and 2019 must be taken."
The 2018 prize was cancelled and the Academy's future role in the award was put into question after the husband of one member was accused of sexually assaulting and harassing women. Jean-Claude Arnault, a photographer, was found guilty of one case of rape. He denies all allegations and has appealed the verdict.
