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Every day this week, a Nobel Prize will be announced, starting with medicine, this Monday, October 7th. This year, the Academy decided to get a makeover, after the scandal that shook it in 2018.
With our correspondent in Stockholm , Frédéric Faux
We remember the Jean-Claude Arnault case last year; this Frenchman married to an academician and today in prison for rape. She had revealed a whole series of sexual and even financial scandals related to the Swedish Academy, which chose the Nobel Prize for literature.
The latter could not even be awarded in 2018. That's why this week, two Nobel Prize winners will be awarded.
The Nobel week is a much awaited moment in Sweden, and even more so this year. The Swedish Academy, at the heart of the scandal of the Nobel Prize for literature , has been given a new lease of life. Seven of its 18 members have been replaced.
Women have made a strong entry, and the Academy, for the first time, is assisted by an external committee to recommend authors.
Respect the wishes of Alfred Nobel
In the end, as for the Nobel scientists, it is always a small group of Swedes who chooses the winner. A monopoly explained by the historian Gustav Källstrand:
" The Nobel Foundation, " he says, " must follow Alfred Nobel's last wishes, which state that these prizes must be awarded by these institutions, which are the Swedish Academy and our Royal Academy of Sciences. But that does not prevent these prices from being international. Nomination proposals are made by scientists, writers or politicians around the world. "
The choice of laureates this week will be carefully scrutinized. For peace, the young Swede Greta Thunberg is often quoted. For literature, where will be announced on Thursday Nobels 2018 and 2019, we mention big names, such as Albanian Ismael Kadare, or the Japanese Murakami.
Choosing a recognized, read, consensual writer is the best thing that academics can do to restore their credibility.
The countdown has begun! In one week's time we'll be announcing the recipients of the 2019 Nobel Prizes live on https://t.co/svd70wbHg8.
Full announcement dates and times for each prize: https://t.co/kmwMfFvwdA pic.twitter.com/ol3lxTaDfd