Swedish Academy

The Swedish Academy in Stockholm

The Swedish Academy (Swedish: Svenska Akademien), started in 1786 by King Gustav III, is one of the Royal Academies of Sweden. It was copied from the Académie française, it has 18 members. The motto of the Academy is "Talent and Taste" ("Snille och Smak" in Swedish). The main thing the Academy does is to help the purity, strength, and greatness of the Swedish language" ("Svenska Språkets renhet, styrka och höghet"). To help do this, the Academy publishes two dictionaries.

The first is a dictionary in a single book, called Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL). In 2005, it was up to its 13th edition. The second dictionary, called Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB) is so big it needs many books, like the Oxford English Dictionary. The first book in the set was printed in 1898 and in 2005 work had got as far as words beginning with the letter "T".

Since 1901 the Academy has decided who will win the Nobel Prize in Literature, given in memory of Alfred Nobel.

The Academy uses a building now known as the Stockholm Stock Exchange Building. The bottom floor was used as a trading exchange (which became the stock exchange) and the upper floor was used for dances, New Years Eve parties, etc. In 1786, the ballroom was the biggest room in Stockholm that could be heated and be used in the winter. The king asked if he could use it. The Academy has met there every year since. In 1914 the Academy gained the right to use the upper floor as their own forever. This is where they meet and, amongst other business, choose the Nobel Prize winners. Because of this, the Academy is one of the most important literary groups in the world.

Current members

Dag Hammarskjöld's farm in Backåkra, now used by members of the Academy.

The current members of the Swedish Academy listed by seat number :

Seat	Member of the Academy	Born	Elect.	Notes
1.	Lotta Lotass	1964	2009
2.	Bo Ralph	1945	1999
3.	Sture Allén	1928	1980	Permanent secretary 1986-1999
4.	Anders Olsson	1949	2008
5.	Göran Malmqvist	1924	1985
6.	Birgitta Trotzig	1929	1993
7.	Knut Ahnlund	1923	1983	Inactive
8.	Jesper Svenbro	1944	2006
9.	Torgny Lindgren	1938	1991
10.	Peter Englund	1957	2002	Permanent secretary 2009-
11.	Ulf Linde	1929	1977
12.	Per Wästberg	1933	1997
13.	Gunnel Vallquist	1918	1982
14.	Kristina Lugn	1948	2006
15.	Kerstin Ekman	1933	1978	Inactive
16.	Kjell Espmark	1930	1981
17.	Horace Engdahl	1948	1997	Permanent secretary 1999-2009
18.	Katarina Frostenson	1953	1992

Permanent secretaries

Order	Seat	Permanent Secretary of the Academy	Born	Years	Notes
1.	11.	Nils von Rosenstein	1752	1786-1824
2.	13.	Frans Michael Franzén	1772	1824-1834
3.	12.	Bernhard von Beskow	1828	1834-1868
4.	5.	Johan Erik Rydqvist	1800	1868-1869	pro temporare
5.	15.	Ludvig Manderström	1806	1869-1872
6.	12.	Carl Gustaf Strandberg	1825	1872-1874	pro temporare
7.	9.	Henning Hamilton	1814	1874-1881
8.	11.	Bror Emil Hildebrand	1806	1881-1883	pro temporare
9.	8.	Carl David af Wirsén	1842	1883-1912	pro temporare in 1883-84
10.	6.	Hans Hildebrand	1842	1912	pro temporare
11.	11.	Erik Axel Karlfeldt	1864	1913-1931
12.	14.	Per Hallström	1866	1931-1941
13.	13.	Anders Österling	1884	1941-1964
14.	7.	Karl Ragnar Gierow	1904	1964-1977
15.	14.	Lars Gyllensten	1921	1977-1986
16.	16.	Sture Allén	1928	1986-1999
17.	17.	Horace Engdahl	1948	1999-2009
18.	10.	Peter Englund	1957	2009-

Other websites

• Swedish Academy - Official site (in Swedish)
• Swedish Academy - Official site (in English)
• SAOL on the web - Free
• SAOB on the web - Free