Nobel literature prize will not be awarded this year

Copenhagen: The Swedish Academy says the Nobel Prize in literature will be not awarded this year following sex-abuse allegations and other issues within its ranks that have tarnished the body's reputation.

The academy said today the 2018 prize will be given in 2019.

The decision was made at a weekly meeting in Stockholm on the grounds that the academy is in no shape to pick a winner after a string of sex abuse allegations and financial crimes scandals.

In a statement, the academy said the decision "was arrived at in view of the currently diminished Academy and the reduced public confidence in the Academy." It will be the first time since wartime 1943 that the prestigious award is not handed out.