Per Olov Enquist

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Per Olov Enquist
Per Olov Enquist at the Swedish Sports Awards inside the Stockholm Globe Arena in Stockholm, Sweden in January 2013
Per Olov Enquist at the Swedish Sports Awards inside the Stockholm Globe Arena in Stockholm, Sweden in January 2013
Born(1934-09-23)23 September 1934
Hjoggböle, Sweden
Died25 April 2020(2020-04-25) (aged 85)
Vaxholm, Sweden
OccupationJournalist, playwright and novelist
LanguageSwedish
Period1961–2020
Notable workThe Visit of the Royal Physician
Enquist presenting himself at the Gothenburg bookfair in 2012.

Per Olov Enquist, also known as P. O. Enquist, (23 September 1934 – 25 April 2020)[1] was a Swedish author.[2] He had worked as a journalist, playwright and novelist.

Biography[edit]

Enquist was born and raised in Hjoggböle, a village in present-day Skellefteå Municipality, Västerbotten. He was the only son of a single mother, who became a widow when he was half a year old. In his youth, he was a promising athlete with a high jump personal best of 1.97 meters.[3] He studied at Uppsala University, receiving a degree in the history of literature.[4]

During his time in Uppsala he started writing, his first novel Kristallögat being published in 1961, and became a newspaper journalist.[3] Enquist won the Nordic Council's Literature Prize in 1968 for Legionärerna, his account of Sweden's deportation of Baltic-country soldiers at the end of the second world war which also became his international breakthrough.[3][5] He would write several more books based on true events, including Kapten Nemos bibliotek (1991) about Bureåfallet [sv] where two newly born boys were accidentally switched, Livläkarens besök (1999), Lewis resa (2001) about Pentecostalist Lewi Pethrus, and Boken om Blanche och Marie (2004) about Marie Curie and mental patient Marie "Blanche" Wittman.[6][7][8] Enquist's first stage play was Tribadernas natt (1975), a story about Swedish author August Strindberg, his soon-to-be ex-wife Siri von Essen, and von Essen's presumed lover Marie David [sv].[9][10][11]

Awards for his writing have included the Dobloug Prize in 1988,[12] the Selma Lagerlöf Prize in 1997,[9] and the Italian Flaiano Prize in 2002.[13] Besides books and stage plays, Enquist also wrote screenplays for motion pictures, including Pelle Erövraren (1987) and Hamsun (1996),[14] and at the 27th Guldbagge Awards in 1993, Enquist was nominated for the award for Best Screenplay for the film Il Capitano: A Swedish Requiem.[15] He also received the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize as well as the Nelly Sachs Prize in 2003 for Livläkarens besök, based on the true story of Johann Friedrich Struensee, who was the mentally ill Danish King Christian VII's physician, and his political machinations and relationship with Christian's wife Caroline Matilda in the 1770s.[16][17] Livläkarens besök also became the first of two books Enquist wrote that were awarded the August Prize, the other being his 2008 autobiography Ett annat liv.[4] Enquist was awarded the Austrian State Prize for European Literature in 2009 and the Swedish Academy's Nordic Prize in 2010.[3]

Enquist died on 25 April 2020 after a prolonged struggle with cancer.[18][19]

Bibliography[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Författaren PO Enquist är död". Sveriges Television. 26 April 2020. Retrieved 26 April 2020.
  2. ^ "Österrikiskt kulturpris till P.O. Enquist". Nyheter (in Swedish). 26 July 2010. Retrieved 25 July 2011.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h "Författaren P O Enquist är död – blev 85 år gammal". www.expressen.se (in Swedish). 26 April 2020. Retrieved 26 April 2020.
  4. ^ a b Kramsjö, Britta (26 April 2020). "P O Enquist är död – författaren blev 85 år". Svenska Dagbladet (in Swedish). ISSN 1101-2412. Retrieved 26 April 2020.
  5. ^ a b c d e "Författaren PO Enquist är död". Aftonbladet (in Swedish). 26 April 2020. Retrieved 26 April 2020.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i "P.O. Enquist". Nationalencyklopedin. Retrieved 26 April 2020.
  7. ^ a b TT/Ekot. "Författaren P O Enquist är död". Sveriges Radio (in Swedish). Retrieved 27 April 2020.
  8. ^ Enquist, Per Olov (12 December 2019). Kapten Nemos bibliotek (in Swedish). Norstedts. ISBN 978-91-1-309987-3.
  9. ^ a b c d e f "Per Olov Enquist". www.norstedts.se (in Swedish). Retrieved 26 April 2020.
  10. ^ "Tribadernas natt". teaterstockholm.se. Retrieved 27 April 2020.
  11. ^ Spindler, Ylva Lagercrantz (25 October 2012). "Heta tribader i tulpantofflor". Svenska Dagbladet (in Swedish). ISSN 1101-2412. Retrieved 27 April 2020.
  12. ^ "Doblougprisen". Store norske leksikon (in Norwegian Bokmål). Retrieved 26 April 2020.
  13. ^ Flaiano, Premi. "Flaiano International Awards Winners year 2002". en.premiflaiano.com. Retrieved 26 April 2020.
  14. ^ "Svenska Akademiens nordiska pris". www.svenskaakademien.se. Retrieved 26 April 2020.
  15. ^ "Il Capitano (1991)". Swedish Film Institute. 17 March 2014.
  16. ^ "The Visit of the Royal Physician, Per Olov Enquist, trans. Tiina". The Independent. 12 April 2003. Archived from the original on 8 August 2021. Retrieved 26 April 2020.
  17. ^ TT (19 September 2003). "P O Enquist får Nelly Sachs-priset". Svenska Dagbladet (in Swedish). ISSN 1101-2412. Retrieved 26 April 2020.
  18. ^ "P O Enquist är död – blev 85 år". Dagens Nyheter. 26 April 2020. Retrieved 26 April 2020.
  19. ^ "Acclaimed Swedish author Per Olov Enquist dies". BBC News. 26 April 2020. Retrieved 27 April 2020.
  20. ^ a b c d e f g h Lundqvist, Olle (26 April 2020). "P O Enquist har avlidit – han blev 85 år gammal – Norran". www.norran.se (in Swedish). Retrieved 26 April 2020.
  21. ^ "KULTUR: Han förenade politiken och konsten". Aftonbladet (in Swedish). 11 July 2016. Retrieved 26 April 2020.
  22. ^ "Politiken hos Enquist". Aftonbladet (in Swedish). 27 May 2017. Retrieved 26 April 2020.
  23. ^ Kåreland, Lena (25 August 2003). "Spännande - men allt för privat". Svenska Dagbladet (in Swedish). ISSN 1101-2412. Retrieved 26 April 2020.
  24. ^ "Per Olov Enquist: Den tredje grottans hemlighet". www.expressen.se (in Swedish). November 2010. Retrieved 26 April 2020.

External links[edit]