Per Olov Enquist | |
|---|---|
 Per Olov Enquist at the Swedish Sports Awards inside theStockholm Globe Arena in Stockholm, Sweden in January 2013 | |
| Born | (1934-09-23)23 September 1934 Hjoggböle, Sweden |
| Died | 25 April 2020(2020-04-25) (aged 85) Vaxholm, Sweden |
| Occupation | Journalist, playwright and novelist |
| Language | Swedish |
| Period | 1961–2020 |
| Notable work | The Visit of the Royal Physician |
Per Olov Enquist (23 September 1934 – 25 April 2020),[1] also known asP. O. Enquist, was a Swedish author.[2] He worked as a journalist, playwright and novelist.
Enquist was born and raised inHjoggböle [sv], a village in present-daySkellefteå 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 ahigh jump personal best of 1.97 meters.[3] He studied atUppsala University, receiving a degree in thehistory of literature.[4]
During his time in Uppsala he started writing, his first novelKristallögat being published in 1961, and became a newspaper journalist.[3] Enquist won theNordic Council's Literature Prize in 1968 forThe Legionnaires, his account ofSweden's deportation of Baltic-country soldiers at the end of the second world war, a novel which also became his international breakthrough.[3][5] Enquist was to write several more novels based on true events.Kapten Nemos bibliotek He lived in Denmark from 1978 to 1993 where he was married to Danish journalist Lone Bastholm. (1991) took inspiration fromBureåfallet [sv] where two newly born boys wereaccidentally switched;The Visit of the Royal Physician (1999) was based on the life of Danish KingChristian VII and his physicianJohann Friedrich Struensee, and Struensee's political machinations and relationship with the King's wifeCaroline Matilda in the 1770s;Lewis resa (2001) covered the life ofPentecostalLewi Pethrus; whileBoken om Blanche och Marie (2004) was based on the friendship ofMarie Curie and mental patientMarie "Blanche" Wittman.[6][7][8] Enquist's first stage play wasTribadernas natt (1975), a story about Swedish authorAugust Strindberg, his soon-to-be ex-wifeSiri von Essen, and von Essen's presumed loverMarie David [sv].[9][10][11]
Awards for his writing have included theDobloug Prize in 1988,[12] theSelma Lagerlöf Prize in 1997,[9] and the ItalianFlaiano Prize in 2002.[13] Besides books and stage plays, Enquist also wrote screenplays for motion pictures, includingPelle Erövraren (1987) andHamsun (1996),[14] and at the27th Guldbagge Awards in 1993, Enquist was nominated for the award for Best Screenplay for the filmIl Capitano: A Swedish Requiem.[15] He also received theIndependent Foreign Fiction Prize as well as theNelly Sachs Prize in 2003 forThe Visit of the Royal Physician.[16][17]The Visit of the Royal Physician also became the first of two books by Enquist to be awarded theAugust Prize, the other being his 2008 autobiographyEtt annat liv.[4] Enquist was awarded theAustrian State Prize for European Literature in 2009 and theSwedish Academy's Nordic Prize in 2010.[3]
Enquist died on 25 April 2020 after a prolonged struggle with cancer.[18][19]
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