#MeToo hits Academy, no Nobel Literature Prize this year

Stockholm: For the first time in almost 70 years there will be no Nobel Literature Prize this year, after the Swedish Academy that selects the laureate failed to contain a deep crisis stemming from the anti-sexual harassment #MeToo campaign.

“We find it necessary to commit time to recovering public confidence in the Academy before the next laureate can be announced,” its interim permanent secretary Anders Olsson said in a statement Friday, adding that two prizes would be announced in 2019.

The body has been in turmoil since November when Swedish daily Dagens Nyheter — in the wake of the global #MeToo campaign — published the testimonies of 18 women claiming to have been raped, sexually assaulted or harassed by an influential culture figure with long-standing ties to the Academy.

Accusers say that Jean-Claude Arnault, the French husband of Academy member and poet Katarina Frostenson, used his sway in the arts world, including his connections to the Academy, to pressure them into sex, and that some of his offenses took place at Academy-owned properties in Stockholm and Paris.

Mr Arnault has denied the allegations, but disagreements within the Academy on how to deal with the issue sowed deep discord among its 18 members, prompting six members to quit in recent weeks.