COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — The Latest on the uproar at the Swedish Academy, which awards the Nobel Literature Prize (all times local):
6:55 p.m.
The Nobel Foundation Board has sharply criticized the Swedish Academy, which chooses the Nobel Literature Prize winner each year, for damaging its own reputation and threatening to tarnish the reputation of the Nobel Prize itself.
After a board meeting Wednesday, the foundation issued a statement noting that “trust in the Swedish Academy has been seriously damaged” and demanding that the group take specific actions to restore that trust.
That includes making sure the group can carry out the 2018 Nobel selection “in a credible manner,” resolving conflicts of interest and confidentiality according to Nobel regulations and referring “suspected criminal acts” to law enforcement officials.
Three male members of the Swedish Academy quit after the group held a secret vote and decided not to remove a female colleague whose husband is in embroiled in sexual misconduct allegations.
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11 a.m.
The resignation of three members from the Swedish Academy awarding the Nobel Literature Prize is “deeply unfortunate and risk seriously damaging” the body’s “important activities,” Sweden’s king said Wednesday.
The prestigious Nobel institution has been troubled by the resignation of Klas Ostergren, Kjell Espmark and Peter Englund Friday, who quit after the secretive 18-member academy voted against removing a female colleague whose husband is embroiled in sexual misconduct allegations.
In his second statement this week, Carl XVI Gustav, said that “it is crucial that all involved now realize their responsibility for the institution and contribute to resolving conflicts.”
The king is the academy’s patron, and must approve any of the body’s secret votes.
Academy members are appointed for life and resignations are extremely rare. The king said in light of recent developments, he will consider new rules for members to withdraw.
