The Alternative Nobel: vote now for a surprising new literature prize

Swedish librarians have drawn up their longlist for the New Academy’s take on the world’s biggest books award. And it really is new

Sweden’s librarians have spoken: a wonderfully eclectic lineup of authors has emerged on a long-ish longlist for the New Academy’s alternative to the postponed 2018 Nobel prize for literature.

Traditionally awarded in autumn by the opaque and austere Swedish Academy, the Nobel was called off in March due to an ongoing sex scandal – and swiftly replaced when a group of the country’s cultural figures decided that the “world’s greatest literature prize” should still be awarded. “In a time when human values are increasingly being called into question,” the New Academy’s solemn opener read, “literature becomes an even more important counterforce to stop the culture of silence and oppression.”

Related: Public fights, resignations and a sex scandal: what's going on with the Nobel prize?

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