Three members of the Swedish Academy, the body that selects the winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, have withdrawn from its board in protest over the handling of allegations of sexual misconduct by a man married to another member.
Academy members and authors Peter Englund, Klas Ostergren and Kjell Espmark all said separately they would no longer participate in its work. Since seats are for life it, is not technically possible to resign.
The Swedish Academy in November severed ties with a man whom it had helped financially in running a cultural club in Stockholm after allegations of sexual misconduct on his part.
At a time of global concern over the treatment of women spearheaded by the #MeToo movement, state prosecutors opened a preliminary investigation into the incidents, but later dropped parts of it without charges being laid.
Lawyer Bjorn Hurtig, who represents the man, told Reuters his client denied all allegations.
The Swedish Academy has yet to make public the results of its own internal investigation. But Englund said in a blog on Friday that a rift had grown in the body over the probe and the measures taken by the Academy’s permanent secretary in the case.
He said that its assessments showed “too much regard for the individual, and too little for the statutes”.
“Decisions have been taken that I neither believe in nor can defend, and I have therefore decided to no longer participate in the work of the Swedish Academy,” he said.
Espmark said in a letter to newspaper Svenska Dagbladet he believed the Academy was failing to live up to its own code.
Permanent secretary Sara Danius said the Academy had decided to look into whether it could be made possible for members to formally resign while also saying she was saddened by the exit of her colleagues.
“It is very sad. But I understand their reasoning,” she was quoted as saying.
Sweden's king said Monday that the resignation of three members of the body that awards the Nobel Literature Prize is "a sad development that I hope will be solved."
Carl XVI Gustav, the patron of the Swedish Academy who must approve any of the secret votes by the 18-member body before the result is made public, said Monday the Academy was "thinking the situation through."
"It is a very, very, very important institution, so I am kept informed about developments," he briefly told Swedish media. He said he was confident the problems at the academy would be solved "sooner or later."
