The Swedish Academy (), founded in 1786 by King Gustav III, is one of the Royal Academies of Sweden. Its 18 members, who are elected for life, comprise the highest Swedish language authority. Outside Scandinavia, it is best known as the body that chooses the laureates for the annual Nobel Prize in Literature, awarded in memory of the donor Alfred Nobel.
History
The Swedish Academy was founded in 1786 by King Gustav III. It is modelled after the Académie française and has 18 members. It is said that Gustaf III originally intended there to be twenty members, half the number of those in the French Academy, but eventually decided on eighteen because the Swedish expression De Aderton – 'The Eighteen' – had such a fine solemn ring. The academy's motto is "Talent and Taste" (), and its stated primary purpose is to "work on the Swedish language's purity, strength and sublimity".
The academy's statutes was drawn up by Gustav III himself. The specified tasks for the Academy included to compile a dictionary of the Swedish language and arrange annual competitions in oratory and poetry on given themes. Moreover, Gustav instructed that the Academy would hold an annual grand ceremony on 20 December, and that a medal would be struck every year to commemorate a prominent Swede.
In the wake of Gustav's death in 1792 the standings of the academy deteriorated, but the institution nevertheless managed to maintain its position as the nations highest authority in literary and linguistic matters.
After having flourished in the mid-19th century, by the end of the century the academy, fiercely negative to new literary movements, had deteriorated and was not looked upon favourably.
After some initial hesitation, by the turn of the 20th century the academy accepted the task of awarding the Nobel Prize in Literature, and soon after a modernisation of the academy began with several new school writers and its first female member, Selma Lagerlöf, elected.
Headquarters
The building now known as the Stockholm Stock Exchange Building was built for the bourgeoisie. The bottom floor was used as a trading exchange (this later became the stock exchange), and the upper floor was used for balls, New Year's Eve parties, etc. When the academy was founded, the ballroom was the biggest room in Stockholm that could be heated and thus used in the winter, so the King asked if he could borrow it.
The academy has had its annual meeting there every year since, attended by members of the Swedish royal family. However, it was not until 1914 that the academy gained permanent use of the upper floor as their own. It is here that the academy meets and, among other business, announces the names of Nobel Prize laureates. This task arguably makes the academy one of the world's most influential literary bodies.
The Swedish King is the only person who, apart from the members, has the right to attend the meetings of the academy. On 3 March 2022 the Swedish King attended a weekly academy meeting, the first time a Swedish king has done so in over 200 years.
Members
Members are elected by a secret ballot in the Academy and before the result is made public it must be submitted to the Academy's Patron, the King of Sweden, for his approval. Members of the Academy include writers, linguists, literary scholars, historians and a prominent jurist. Initially writers were in the minority in the Academy, but during the twentieth century the number of writers grew to represent more than half of The Eighteen. The Swedish Academy has a long history of being a heavily male-dominated institution, but the Academy has recently moved towards better equality. Since 20 December 2019 one third of the chairs belong to female Academy members.The Academy Swedish Academy
Prior to 2018 it was not possible for members of the academy to resign; membership was for life, although the academy could decide to exclude members. This happened twice to Gustaf Mauritz Armfelt, who was excluded in 1794, re-elected in 1805 and excluded again in 1811. In 1989, members Kerstin Ekman and Lars Gyllensten chose to stop participating in the meetings of the academy, over its refusal to express support for Salman Rushdie when Ayatollah Khomeini condemned him to death for The Satanic Verses, shortly after a third member, Werner Aspenström, also stopped participating in the meetings for unspecified reasons. In 2005, Knut Ahnlund made the same decision, as a protest against the choice of Elfriede Jelinek as Nobel laureate for 2004, calling her work "unenjoyable, violent pornography", and stating that awarding her the prize had "caused irreparable harm to the value of the award for the foreseeable future". On 25 November 2017, Lotta Lotass said in an interview that she had not participated in the meetings of the academy for more than two years and did not consider herself a member any more.Därför lämnade Lotta Lotass Svenska Akademien, 25 November 2017.
Assets
Dag Hammarskjöld's former farm at Backåkra, close to Ystad in southern Sweden, was bought in 1957 as a summer residence by Hammarskjöld, then Secretary-General of the United Nations (1953–1961). The south wing of the farm is reserved as a summer retreat for the 18 members of the Swedish Academy, of which Hammarskjöld was a member.
On 11 April 2019, the academy published its financial statements for the first time in its history. According to it, the academy owned financial assets worth 1.58 billion Swedish kronor at the end of 2018 (equal to $170M, €150M, or £130M).
The Academy's dictionaries In pursuance of its goals of maintaining and strengthening the Swedish language, the Academy publishes three dictionaries. The first is a one-volume spelling dictionary called Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL), which is in its 15th edition as of 2026. The second is a multi-volume dictionary (39 volumes), edited on principles similar to those of the Oxford English Dictionary, entitled Svenska Akademiens Ordbok (SAOB), the first volume of which was published in 1893 and the last one in 2023. The third is a two-volume dictionary edited at Gothenburg University and titled Svensk ordbok utgiven av Svenska Akademien ('Swedish dictionary published by the Swedish Academy'); it covers modern Swedish and includes pronunciations, etymologies etc, as well as definitions and some examples. In addition to printed publications, all three dictionaries are also available to access free of charge online at svenska.se.
In addition to the dictionaries the Academy has also published a four-volume grammar of the Swedish language (Svenska Akademiens grammatik, SAG) aimed at researchers, linguists and university students among others, as well as a single-volume counterpart for those requiring something less comprehensive (Svenska Akademiens språklära, SAS).
Awards and prizes The Swedish Academy annually awards nearly 50 different prizes and scholarships, most of them for domestic Swedish authors. Common to all is that they are awarded without competition and without application.
The Nobel Prize in Literature
Since 1901, the Swedish Academy has annually decided who will be the laureate for the Nobel Prize in Literature, awarded in memory of the donor Alfred Nobel. It is awarded at a ceremony on 10 December with the laureate receiving a medal, a diploma and, as of 2024, 11 million Swedish crowns.
The Great Prize Swedish: Stora Priset, literally the Great Prize, was instituted by King Gustav III. The prize, which consists of a single gold medal, is the most prestigious award that can be awarded by the Swedish Academy. It has been awarded to, among others, Selma Lagerlöf (1904 and 1909), Herbert Tingsten (1966), Astrid Lindgren (1971), Evert Taube (1972) and Tove Jansson (1994).
Dobloug Prize The Dobloug Prize, one of the Academy's largest prizes at $40,000, is a literature prize awarded for Swedish and Norwegian fiction.Website of the Swedish Academy describing the prize (Swedish language)) It was first awarded in 1951 to Arnulf Øverland and Eyvind Johnson. Since 1985, two authors from each country are awarded.
The Nordic Prize The Swedish Academy Nordic Prize was established at the Swedish Academy's 200th jubilee in 1986 and with a prize sum of 400 000 Swedish crowns is the largest prize the Academy awards after the Nobel Prize in Literature. Among others, it has been awarded to William Heinesen (1987), Tomas Tranströmer (1991), Inger Christensen (1992), Klaus Rifbjerg (1999), Lars Norén (2003), Jon Fosse (2007), Per Olov Enquist (2010), Kjell Askildsen (2011), Sofi Oksanen (2013), Dag Solstad (2017) and Karl Ove Knausgård (2019).
Bellman Prize Bellmanpriset was established in 1920 in memory of Carl Michael Bellman and is awarded to "a truly outstanding Swedish poet". Among others, it has been awarded to Pär Lagerkvist, Anders Österling, Hjalmar Gullberg, Evert Taube, Harry Martinson, Gunnar Ekelöf, Nils Ferlin, Erik Lindegren, Artur Lundkvist, Johannes Edfelt, Werner Aspenström, Lars Forssell and Katarina Frostenson.
Other prizes Kungliga priset (The Royal Prize) was established in 1835 by the Swedish king Karl XIV Johan and is awarded to significant achievements in the Academy's fields of operation. The Swedish Acadademy also awards a number of other prizes and scholarships to authors, scholars, teachers and librarians.
Current members
The current members of the Swedish Academy listed by seat number:
SeatPictureMemberBornAgeElectedNotes1. Eric M. Runesson 2018 2. Bo Ralph19993. David Håkansson20234. Anders Olsson 2008Permanent secretary 1 June 2018 – 1 June 2019Anders Olsson Svenska Akademien5. Ingrid Carlberg 2020 Permanent secretary since 1 June 20266. Tomas Riad20117. Åsa Wikforss20198. Jesper Svenbro20069. Ellen Mattson201910. Peter Englund2002Permanent secretary 2009–2015.11. Mats Malm2018Permanent secretary 2019–2026.12. Per Wästberg199713. Anne Swärd 2019 14. Steve Sem-Sandberg 2020 15. Jila Mossaed 2018 16. Anna-Karin Palm202317. Horace Engdahl1997Permanent secretary 1999–200918. Anna Hallberg 2026
Permanent secretaries Order Seat PicturePermanent Secretary of the Swedish AcademyBornYearsNotes1.11. Nils von Rosenstein 1752 1786–1824 2.13. Frans Michael Franzén 1772 1824–18343.12. Bernhard von Beskow 1796 1834–18684.5. Johan Erik Rydqvist 1800 1868–1869pro tempore5.15. Ludvig Manderström 1806 1869–18726.12. Carl Gustaf Strandberg 1825 1872–1874pro tempore7.9. Henning Hamilton 1814 1874–18818.11. Bror Emil Hildebrand 1806 1881–1883pro tempore9.8. Carl David af Wirsén 1842 1883–1912pro tempore in 1883–8410.6. Hans Hildebrand 1842 1912–1913pro tempore11.11. Erik Axel Karlfeldt 1864 1913–193112.14. Per Hallström 1866 1931–194113.13. Anders Österling 1884 1941–196414.7. Karl Ragnar Gierow 1904 1964–197715.14. Lars Gyllensten 1921 1977–198616.3. Sture Allén 1928 1986–199917.17. Horace Engdahl 1948 1999–200918.10. Peter Englund 19572009–201519.7. Sara Danius 19622015–201820.4.Anders Olsson19492018–2019pro tempore April–June 201821.11.Mats Malm19642019–202622.5.Ingrid Carlberg19612026–
Controversies 1794–1795 Armfelt Conspiracy and suspension of the Academy
In the wake of the Academy's founder King Gustav III's death in 1792, the standing of the Swedish Academy deteriorated. In 1794, member Gustav Mauritz Armfelt was excluded from the Academy after being sentenced for treason for a conspiracy against the Swedish government, and in 1795 the Academy was suspended altogether for two years on political grounds. Armfelt was eventually reinstated in the Academy in 1805, but after being forced to exile in Russia following the coup of 1809, he was again excluded from the Academy in 1811.
1881 Henning Hamilton affair In 1881, member Henning Hamilton was excluded from the Academy after being found guilty of embezzlement through falsifying a relative's signature.
1989 Rushdie affair