The Swedish Academy said Friday it would delay the current year's Nobel Literature Prize without precedent for just about 70 years, as it is shaken by turmoil over connections to a man blamed for assault and rape.
"The Swedish Academy expects to choose and declare the Nobel Prize in Literature for 2018 in parallel with the naming of the 2019 laureate," it said.
The establishment, established in 1786, has on seven past events saved the prize: in 1915, 1919, 1925, 1926, 1927, 1936 and 1949.
"On five of those events, the prize was postponed then granted in the meantime as the next year's prize," the Academy said in an announcement.
The body has been dove in emergency since November, in the wake of the worldwide #MeToo battle, when Swedish daily paper of reference Dagens Nyheter distributed the declarations of 18 ladies asserting to have been assaulted, sexually struck or bugged by Jean-Claude Arnault, a powerful figure on the Swedish culture scene.
Arnault, the French spouse of Academy part and writer Katarina Frostenson, has denied the claims.
The disclosures have sowed conflict among the Academy's 18 individuals about how to push ahead, and as of late, six of them have surrendered, including lasting secretary Sara Danius.
"The dynamic individuals from the Swedish Academy are obviously completely mindful that the present emergency of certainty puts levels of popularity on a long haul and vigorous work for change," the Academy's break lasting secretary Anders Olsson said in the announcement.
"We think that its important to submit time to recuperating open trust in the Academy before the following laureate can be declared," he said.