Nobel’s an institution ‘for men’, says French winner

STOCKHOLM: The Nobel Prize is an institution “for men”, literaturelaureate Annie Ernaux of France told AFP on Tuesday in an interview ahead of this weekend´s formal awards ceremony.

“It manifests itself by this desire for tradition. Being bound to traditions is perhaps more masculine, it is a way to transmit power to each other”, the 82-year-old author said. Ernaux is just the 17th woman awarded the Nobel Literature Prize since it was first handed out in 1901, and the first French woman.

“Speech has almost always been monopolised by men and I have noticed that women are often less verbose in their speeches than men, knowing full well that they are more practical”, she said, adding it was time for the Nobels to modernise.