Japan's Murakami snubs 'alternative' Nobel prize

Thanks, but no thanks: Japanese author Haruki Murakami, a finalist for the "alternative Nobel Literature Prize", has withdrawn his nomination, telling organisers he wants to focus on work and avoid the spotlight. The New Academy Prize in Literature was founded by more than 100 Swedish intellectuals in protest after the Swedish Academy, which selects Nobel laureates, postponed this year's award over longstanding ties to a man accused of assaulting several women during the peak of last year's MeToo wave.
The New Academy said in a Facebook post on Saturday that Murakami, the author of Norwegian Wood and who's often tipped for the Nobel Literature Prize, "expressed his gratitude at being nominated, writing 'It... is a great honour for me.'"
"Murakami then said his preference is to concentrate on his writing, away from media attention, and asked that his nomination be withdrawn," in an e-mail, the academy added. The alternative honour serves to denounce "bias, arrogance and sexism", according to its founders who include authors, artists and journalists.