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The parts are the same when the Swedish Academy today announces the winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature. At 1pm, permanent secretary Mats Malm opens the door of the Stock Exchange, reads the motivation and name of the author who receives the award and, for this year, an increased price control of 10 million SEK.
At the same time, many things are different. The ceremony is very small: last year, about 140 journalists were present at the announcement, but this year only 16 writing journalists and five camera crews will be sitting in the room. The Academy provides oral protection to journalists present and recommends that they keep a great distance from each other.
The formal decision on the Nobel Prize will be made at the Academy meeting, which began at 11:30 a.m. DN met with members Horace Engdahl, Anders Olsson, Ellen Mattson, Bo Ralph and Per Wästberg when they arrived at Börshuset in the morning, but none of them wanted to answer any questions.
Photo: Jonas Lindkvist
Photo: Jonas Lindkvist
Photo: Jonas Lindkvist
Photo: Jonas Lindkvist
In recent years it has been stormy around the Swedish Academy, which awards the award. First for DN’s revelation about the so-called Kulturprofilen Jean-Claude Arnault, who was later sentenced to prison for rape, and his close ties to the Academy.
The scandal caused the 2018 literature award to be postponed and awarded to Olga Tokarczuk only the following year, at the same time that Peter Handke received the 2019 award. That award triggered a new storm of criticism against the Academy when Peter Handke showed his support for Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic, who has been accused of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Crises and criticism has led to speculation that the Academy this year may choose a winner who is not controversial. If you look at the gambling sites, authors like Maryse Condé, Ljudmila Ulitskaja and Ngugi wa Thiong’o are well placed.
This year’s literature award will be the 117th since the first was awarded to the French Sully Prudhomme in 1901. Of the 116 award winners, 15 have been women and 101 men. 83 winners have arrived from Europe, 10 from the US, 7 from South and Central America, 6 from Asia, 5 from Russia, 4 from Africa and an author from Australia.
Read more:
Can the Nobel Prize win back its status?
Here are the top ten candidates for the Nobel Prize in Literature
