Ebba Witt-Brattström (; born 1 June 1953) is a Swedish scholar in

comparative literature Comparative literature studies is an academic field dealing with the study of literature and cultural expression across language, linguistic, national, geographic, and discipline, disciplinary boundaries. Comparative literature "performs a role ...

. She is Professor of Literature and head of department at

Södertörn University Södertörn University (, abbreviated as SH), is a public university college () located in Flemingsberg in Huddinge Municipality, and the larger area called Södertörn, in Stockholm County, Sweden. In 2013, it had about 13,000 full-time and p ...

outside

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

, and a well-known

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...

. Witt-Brattström completed her

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

with a dissertation on the Swedish author

Moa Martinson Moa Martinson (born Helga Maria Swarts; 2November 18905August 1964) was one of Sweden's most noted authors of proletarian literature. Her ambition was to change society with her authorship and to portray the conditions of the working class, and ...

(''Moa Martinson: skrift och drift i trettiotalet'') at

Stockholm University Stockholm University (SU) () is a public university, public research university in Stockholm, Sweden, founded as a college in 1878, with university status since 1960. With over 33,000 students at four different faculties: law, humanities, social ...

in 1988. She has since written a number of texts on St. Bridget of Sweden,

Victoria Benedictsson Victoria Benedictsson (6 March 1850 in Domme – 22 July 1888) was a Swedish author and playwright writing under the pen name Ernst Ahlgren. Despite her writing career being relatively short, she is, together with August Strindberg, regarded as o ...

and Edith Södergran (among others). She also translated the novel ''Egalia's Daughters'' by

Gerd Brantenberg Gerd Mjøen Brantenberg (born October 27, 1941) is a Norwegian author, teacher, and feminist writer. Biography Brantenberg was born in Oslo, but grew up in Fredrikstad. She studied English, History, and Sociology in London, Edinburgh, and Oslo. ...

into Swedish. In 2010 she published a history of the feminist movement in Sweden, Å alla kära systrar'' (For all dear sisters). Witt-Brattström was the Dag Hammarskjöld Visiting Professor at the Department for Northern European Studies at the

Humboldt University of Berlin The Humboldt University of Berlin (, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin, Germany. The university was established by Frederick William III on the initiative of Wilhelm von Humbol ...

from 2008.HU Berlin personal web page From 2012 she is Professor of Nordic Literature at Helsinki University. In the 1970s she was a member of the feminist organisation Grupp 8, and in 2005 she was one of the founders of the feminist political organisation and party Feministiskt Initiativ, although she later distanced herself from the organisation and criticized what she saw as its strong left-wing tendencies. Between 1989 and 2014 Ebba Witt-Brattström was married to

Horace Engdahl Horace Oscar Axel Engdahl (born 30 December 1948) is a Swedish literary historian and critic, and has been a member of the Swedish Academy since 1997. He was the permanent secretary of the Swedish Academy from 1999 to June 2009, when he was succ ...

, permanent secretary 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 ...

. They have three sons. She also has an older son from an earlier marriage. Both her parents came to Sweden as refugees during the Second World War. Her father was a German anti-Nazi from a relatively affluent family, while her mother was an

Estonia Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...

n from a poor peasant's family. Her parents divorced early, and she grew up with her mother.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Witt-Brattstrom, Ebba 1953 births Living people Feminist studies scholars Swedish feminists Stockholm University alumni Academic staff of Södertörn University Academic staff of the Humboldt University of Berlin Swedish people of German descent Swedish people of Estonian descent 21st-century Swedish women politicians Politicians from Stockholm Moa Award recipients Swedish women academics