The Swedish Academy has decided to postpone the 2018 Nobel Prize in Literature and will award it in 2019.
"The Swedish Academy has decided to postpone the 2018 Nobel Prize in Literature, with the intention of awarding it in 2019… The crisis in the Swedish Academy has adversely affected the Nobel Prize. Their decision underscores the seriousness of the situation and will help safeguard the long-term reputation of the Nobel Prize. None of this impacts the awarding of the 2018 Nobel Prizes in other prize categories," the statement read.
The foundation has supported the decision of the Swedish Academy and remains in close contact with its members.
"The Nobel Foundation presumes that the Swedish Academy will now put all its efforts into the task of restoring its credibility as a prize-awarding institution and that the Academy will report the concrete actions that are undertaken. We also assume that all members of the Academy realize that both its extensive reform efforts and its future organizational structure must be characterized by a greater openness towards the outside world," the press release read.
The decision was made amid a number of sexual abuse allegations, making it the first time since 1943, the award is not being given.
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Currently, there are only ten active members in the academy.
According to the recent poll, 62 percent of Sweden's residents think that the scandal undermined trust to the academy and the authority of the Nobel Literature Prize, while one-third of the interviewed think that all the academy's decision-makers should be replaced.
