Swedish Academy

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"Svenska Akademien" redirects here. For the reggae band, see Svenska Akademien (band).

Image:Gustav III, king of Sweden (1746-1792).jpg

       Image:Svenska-Akademien.jpg

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 13th edition while the first volume of the SAOB was published in 1898 and today (2005) 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 Nobel.

The building now known as the Stockholm Stock Exchange Building 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 Prize laureates.

[edit] Current members

Current members of the Swedish Academy:

Chair	Member of the Academy	Born	Elect.	Remarks
1.	Sten Rudholm	1918	1977
2.	Bo Ralph	1945	1999
3.	Sture Allén	1928	1980	Permanent secretary 1986-99
4.	Lars Forssell	1928	1971
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
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
18.	Katarina Frostenson	1953	1992

See also: List of all members, past and present, of the Swedish Academy

[edit] See also

List of language regulators

[edit] External links

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

Image:Swedish Academy.svg	Members of the Swedish Academy
Image:Swedish Academy.svg	1. Sten Rudholm • 2. Bo Ralph • 3. Sture Allén • 4. Lars Forssell • 5. Göran Malmqvist • 6. Birgitta Trotzig • 7. Knut Ahnlund • 8. Jesper Svenbro • 9. Torgny Lindgren • 10. Peter Englund • 11. Ulf Linde • 12. Per Wästberg • 13. Gunnel Vallquist • 14. Kristina Lugn • 15. Kerstin Ekman • 16. Kjell Espmark • 17. Horace Engdahl • 18. Katarina Frostenson

Swedish Royal Academies
Swedish Academy • Arts • Music • Letters, History and Antiquities • Sciences • Engineering Sciences • Agriculture and Forestry • War Sciences • Naval Sciences • Royal Society in Uppsala • Royal Society in Lund • Royal Society in Gothenburg