Östen Sjöstrand (16 June 1925 in

Gothenburg Gothenburg ( ; ) is the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, second-largest city in Sweden, after the capital Stockholm, and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated by the Kattegat on the west coast of Sweden, it is the gub ...

– 13 May 2006) was a Swedish poet, writer and translator. He became a member of the

Swedish Academy 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 t ...

in 1975 and was a member of the Academy's

Nobel committee A Nobel Committee is a working body responsible for most of the work involved in selecting Nobel Prize laureates. There are six awarding committees from four institutions, one for each Nobel Prize. Five of these committees are working bodies ...

between 1979 and 1990.

Biography

Östen Sjöstrand gave his introductory speech in the Swedish Academy about the Swedish writer

Pär Lagerkvist Pär Fabian Lagerkvist (23 May 1891 – 11 July 1974) was a Swedish author who received the 1951 Nobel Prize in Literature. Lagerkvist wrote poetry, plays, novels, short stories, and essays of considerable expressive power and influence from hi ...

, who preceded him at the same chair. As a poet he debuted in 1949 with ''Unio'', which was marked by the post-war agony of the Swedish 1940s poetry. He was above all inspired of French poetry. Music was another source of inspiration for Östen Sjöstrand. In cooperation with

Sven-Erik Bäck Sven-Erik Bäck (16 September 1919 – 10 January 1994) was a Swedish composer of classical music. He was born in Stockholm. Bäck studied from 1939 until 1943 in the King's Music-Academy and from 1940 until 1945, was a composition student of ...

he wrote a pair of operas, including ''Gästabudet''.

Bibliography

*''Unio'' (1949) *''Invigelse'' (1950) *''Återvändo'' (1953) *''Ande och verklighet'' (1954) *''Dikter mellan midnatt och gryning'' (1954) *''Främmande mörker, främmande ljus'' (1955) *''Dikter 1949–1955'' (1958) *''Hemlöshet och hem'' (1958) *''Världen skapas varje dag'' (1960) *''De gåtfulla hindren och andra dikter'' (1961) *''En vinter i Norden'' (1963) *''I vattumannens tecken'' (1967) *''Ensamma stjärnor, en gemensam horisont'' (1970) *''Drömmen är ingen fasad'' (1971) *''Fantasins nödvändighet'' (1971) *''Pär Lagerkvist'' (1975) *''Strömöverföring'' (1977) *''Dikter'' (1981) *''Strax ovanför vattenlinjen'' (1984) *''På återvägen från Jasna Góra'' (1987) *''Sprickorna i stenen'' (1994)

References

;Further reading * Swedish poets 1925 births 2006 deaths Swedish male poets 20th-century Swedish poets 20th-century Swedish translators 20th-century Swedish male writers Members of the Swedish Academy Writers from Gothenburg {{Sweden-translator-stub