Nominee for the Alternative Nobel literature prize

A group of a hundred Swedish intellectuals - writers, teachers, publishers, playwrights and journalists - have driven the New Swedish Academy to give an alternative Nobel Prize for literature. The founders of the New Swedish Academy said in a statement: “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.”

Cast your vote for Siri here! Public Voting Closes August 14. The four most popular will then go before the jury.

Alison Flood writes in The Guardian:

"The Swedish Academy is not awarding a Nobel prize for literature this year, but a group of Swedish cultural figures are coming together to bestow their own version of the world’s most prestigious literary award instead, as an act of protest at the scandal that has engulfed the academy.

"The 2018 Nobel prize for literature was cancelled in May, following allegations of sexual assault made against Jean-Claude Arnault, husband of Katarina Frostenson. Frostenson is an author and a member of the Swedish Academy, the prize’s secretive jury. Arnault was charged with rape in June, but denies all the allegations.

"The scandal, which kickstarted debate about the academy’s patriarchal nature and fights in the Swedish media between academicians, led to a wave of resignations and to the postponement of this year’s prize "in view of the currently diminished academy and the reduced public confidence"."

Among the finalists are the Americans Siri Hustvedt, Paul Auster, Don Delillo, Marilynne Robinson, Jamaica Kincaid and Thomas Pynchon, Canadian Margaret Atwood and Anne Carson and the British JK Rowling, Ian McEwan and Zadie Smith. The list also contains a remarkable presence of Swedish authors, such as Sara Lövestam, Jessica Schiefauer and Jonas Hassen Khemiri.

The award will be made public on October 14, 2018.