Stockholm- Italian author Roberto Saviano, who has been threatened for his writings on the mafia, has been invited to give a lecture at the Swedish Academy, a spokesman for the body that selects the Nobel literature prize said Friday.

The academy decided on the invitation at its weekly meeting on Thursday, Odd Zschiedrich, administrative coordinator at the academy, told Deutche Presse-Agentur dpa.

In a statement Friday, the academy suggested that the lecture be titled "Freedom of speech and lawless violence," and said it hoped it could take place "in dialogue with British-Indian author Salman Rushdie."

Saviano's book, Gomorra, has angered the mafia, or Camorra, in Naples. He has been forced to live under police protection. A week ago he said in a newspaper interview that he was considering leaving Italy.

Zschiedrich said the academy had extended the invitation through an intermediary, noting that Saviano had not yet had time to respond or suggest a possible date.

Zschiedrich added that the academy's permanent secretary, Horace Engdahl, has noted that the academy had not been able to discuss the matter until Thursday because developments in the Saviano case had moved "quickly."

Citing the academy's rules of privacy, Zschiedrich declined to say how many members took part in the decision Thursday, but said "the whole academy" backed the invitation.

News reports Thursday had suggested that the academy was split over how to respond to the death threats.

Academy member Kerstin Ekman had earlier called for a statement condemning the threats against Saviano. Engdahl, in an e-mail to Stockholm daily Expressen, said it was more a "police matter."

Ekman, one of the 18 academy members appointed for life, gave up active work in 1989 to protest the academy's decision not condemn a death threat issued by Iran's religious leader Ayatollah Khomeini against Rushdie. (dpa)