New Academy Forms Out of Nobel Literature Scandal

As you may know, the Nobel Prize for Literature will not be given out this year. But an alternative is in sight. The Guardian reports that a Swedish group called the New Academy has formed, and plans to hand out its own prize on the same Nobel timeline: "We have founded the New Academy to remind people that literature and culture at large should promote democracy, transparency, empathy and respect, without privilege, bias, arrogance or sexism," they said in a statement. More from Alison Flood:

“In a time when human values are increasingly being called into question, literature becomes an even more important counterforce to stop the culture of silence and oppression. The New Academy regards this as so important that the world’s greatest literature prize should still be awarded in 2018.”

The New Academy is inviting all of Sweden’s librarians to nominate authors. Contenders can come from anywhere in the world, and must have written at least two books, one of which was published in the last 10 years. They are looking for a writer who has told the story of “humans in the world” – in contrast to the Nobel, which is intended to honour the writer who has penned, in the words of Alfred Nobel’s will, “the most outstanding work in an ideal direction”.

Read on at The Guardian.