In November last year, 18 women accused Jean-Claude Arnault of sexual harassment and physical abuse. He's a Swedish photographer and married to an Academy member. It's alleged that some of those misconducts took place at properties owned and funded by the Academy. This was followed by similar accusations levelled at other members of the Swedish Academy. And it was finally announced that for the first time in nearly 70 years, there will be no Nobel Prize in literature in 2018. So, an independent initiative has stepped in and set up a platform for this year's literary award
To speak about just how big of an impact this will have on the literary world, Showcase is joined by Alexandra Pascalidou. She is the founder of the New Academy, which is the non-profit organisation looking to find this year's alternative Nobel Prize winner for literature.