Why great Russian writer Leo Tolstoy refused the 1907 Nobel Prize in Literature At the age of 78, the great Russian writer Leo Tolstoy declined consideration for the Nobel Prize in Literature, firmly convinced of the moral harm of money. When the Russian Academy of Sciences nominated him, Tolstoy wrote to his Finnish friend and translator Arvid Järnefelt, asking him to intercede with the Swedish Academy to award the prize to someone else. READ ALSO: Jimmy Carter: Adieu to the champion of downtrodden – Nigeria, nay Africa, by Prof MK Othman Järnefelt — surprised...