Outside the Swedish Academy before the lectures by 2019 Nobel Prize for Literature winner Peter Handke and 2018 winner Olga Tokarczuk. 
The Swedish Academy have said no media are allowed — I was politely turned away tonight. But media who have (coveted) invitations from Handke or Tokarczuk are allowed, the Academy told me.
I’ve seen copies of the lectures and let me just say that Olga Tokarczuk’s is extraordinary. It will make you want to read everything by this brilliant writer. One of the injustices of Handke’s Nobel is that Tokarczuk’s genius is obscured by his unworthy shadow.
So the lectures are now done, I've looked at the videos posted online by the Swedish Academy -- and noticed an amusing thing.
The Swedish Academy didn't allow any journalists at the lectures, saying there was no room due to two lectures this year and more guests than usual. But looking at the videos, there seems to be a decent amount of extra space, on benches along the wall.
I don't know, maybe there are fire rules that limit the number of people in the room, and the number was reached without filling all the space (or seats -- there are seven people in the first row on the left but it doesn't seem there are as many in the rows afterwards).
Yes, this is really minor & not what I worked all my life to finally be able to do. But the Academy has not distinguished itself with transparency, so this is what we're left with, looking at screenshots to discern whether the Academy was truthful about no space for journalists.
Yesterday Peter Handke compared the question I asked him about Srebrenica to a "calligraphy of shit." Tonight, the Swedish Academy's secretary, Mats Malm, gave him a bouquet and a hug/kiss after his lecture. On Tuesday, Sweden's king gives Handke the Nobel Prize medal.
