Academy to award two Nobel Literature prizes
Stockholm, Oct 10 (AFP/APP): The Swedish Academy will crown two Nobel literature laureates on Thursday, after postponing last year’s prize over a harassment scandal.
Experts say the academy will seek to avoid ruffling any feathers with this year’s choices as it bids to move on from the scandal that saw the husband of one of its members jailed for rape.
Ahead of the announcement at 1:00 pm (1100 GMT), when it will reveal one winner for 2018 and one for 2019, some names creating a buzz are poet Anne Carson and novelist Margaret Atwood, both of Canada, as well as Kenyan writer Ngugi Wa Thiong’o, Polish writer and activist Olga Tokarczuk, and French Guadeloupean Maryse Conde, according to betting site Unibet.
Stockholm’s literary circles have also speculated about Romanian poet and novelist Mircea Cartarescu, Polish writer Hanna Krall, Antiguan-American author Jamaica Kincaid, South Korean writer Han Kang and Joyce Carol Oates of the United States.
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Dating back to 1786, the Swedish Academy is at pains to repair its reputation after the scandal exposed scheming, conflicts of interest, harassment and a culture of silence among its 18 members, long esteemed as the country’s guardians of culture.
The revelations shook Sweden, a Lutheran nation that prides itself on transparency and consensual democracy and is intolerant of inequality.
Left in tatters by the debacle, the Academy, tasked with selecting the Nobel Literature laureate, postponed the 2018 prize until this year — the first delay in 70 years.
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