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The Swedish Academy or Svenska Akademien, founded in 1786 by King Gustav III, is one of the Royal Academies of Sweden. Modelled after the Académie française, it has 18 members. The motto of the Academy is "Talent and Taste" ("Snille och Smak" in Swedish). The primary purpose of the Academy is to further the "purity, vigour and majesty" of the Swedish language. To that end the Academy publishes two dictionaries. The first is a one-volume dictionary called Svenska Akademiens Ordlista (SAOL). The second is a multi-volume dictionary, edited on principles similar to those of the Oxford English Dictionary, entitled Svenska Akademiens Ordbok (SAOB). The SAOL has reached its 12th edition while the first volume of the SAOB was published in 1898 and today (2004) work has progressed to words beginning with the letter "T".
The current permanent secretary of the Academy is Horace Engdahl, who was preceded by Sture Allén. Since 1901 the Academy has annually decided who will be the laureate for the Nobel Prize in Literature, awarded in memory of the donor Alfred NobelAlfred Bernhard Nobel ( October 21, 1833 December 10, 1896), Swedish chemist, engineer and the inventor of dynamite. In his last will, he used his enormous fortune to institute the Nobel Prizes. The synthetic element Nobelium was named after him. Personal.
The building now known as the Stockholm Stock Exchange BuildingThe Stock Exchange Building or Borshuset in the Old town of Stockholm is a building that was originally erected for, and is still owned by, the Swedish Academy. The Academy uses the building for its meetings, such as those at which it selects and announce was built for and is owned by the Academy. It is here that the Academy meets and, amongst other business, announces the names of Nobel PrizeThe Nobel Prizes (pronounced no-BELL or no-bell are awarded annually to people who have done outstanding research, invented groundbreaking techniques or equipment, or made outstanding contributions to society. It is generally regarded as the supreme comme laureates.
1 Current members
Current members of the Swedish Academy, ordered by seat number, are:
- Sten Rudholm , elected 1977
- Bo Ralph , elected 1999
- Sture Allén, elected 1980, permanent secretary 1986-1999
- Lars Forssell , elected 1971
- Göran Malmqvist , elected 1985
- Birgitta Trotzig , elected 1993
- Knut Ahnlund , elected 1983
- Östen Sjöstrand , elected 1975
- Torgny LindgrenTorgny Lindgren (born June 16, 1938 in Raggsjo, Norsjo, Sweden) is a Swedish writer. He became a member of the Swedish Academy in 1991. Bibliography Platsax, hjartats instrument (1965) Dikter fran Vimmerby (1970) Hur skulle det vara om man vore Olof Palme, elected 1991
- Peter EnglundPeter Englund (born April 4th 1957) is a Swedish author and historian, and is also a member of the Swedish Academy. Englund was born in Boden in 1957 and studied caretaking for two years and then humanistic subjects for another two years in high school., elected 2002
- Ulf Linde , elected 1977
- Per Wästberg , elected 1997
- Gunnel Vallquist , elected 1982
- Lars Gyllensten , elected 1966, permanent secretary 1977-1986
- Kerstin Ekman , elected 1978
- Kjell Espmark , elected 1981
- Horace Engdahl, elected 1997, permanent secretary since 1999
- Katarina Frostenson , elected 1992
2 See also
