Per Olov Enquist

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Per Olov Enquist
PO Enquist.JPG
Per Olov Enquist in 2008
Born (1934-09-23) 23 September 1934 (age 83)
Hjoggböle, Skellefteå, Västerbotten, Sweden
Occupation Journalist, playwright and novelist
Language Swedish
Nationality Swedish
Period 1961–
Notable work The Visit of the Royal Physician
Enquist presenting himself at the Gothenburg bookfair in 2012.

Per Olov Enquist, better known as P. O. Enquist, (born 23 September 1934) is a Swedish author.[1] He has worked as a journalist, playwright, and novelist. In the 1990s, he gained international recognition with his novel The Visit of the Royal Physician.


Enquist was born and raised in Hjoggböle, Skellefteå, Västerbotten. He is the only son of a single mother, who became a widow when he was half a year old. After gaining a degree in the history of literature at Uppsala University Enquist worked as a newspaper columnist and TV debate moderator from 1965 to 1976. His work soon made him an influential figure on the Swedish literary scene. From 1970 to 1971 he lived in Berlin on a grant from the German Academic Exchange Service and in 1973 he was a visiting professor at the University of California, Los Angeles. He has worked as an independent writer since 1977.

Enquist's works are characterized by a chronically pessimistic view of the world. They invariably describe the restrictions imposed by a pietistic way of living, and this is especially so in March of the Musicians (1978) and Lewi's Journey (2001). He gained international recognition with his novel The Visit of the Royal Physician (1999), which tells the story of Johann Friedrich Struensee, the personal physician of King Christian VII of Denmark. A number of his works have been translated into English by Tiina Nunnally.


Enquist won the Nordic Council's Literature Prize in 1968 for his account of Sweden's deportation of Baltic-country soldiers at the end of the second world war. Subsequent awards have included the Selma Lagerlöf Prize in 1977, the Dobloug Prize in 1988, and the Italian the Flaiano Prize in 2002. He also received the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize as well as the Nelly Sachs Prize in 2003 for Livläkarens Besök (translated into English as "The Visit of the Royal Physician"). In 2010, Enquist was awarded the Austrian State Prize for European Literature for his storytelling. In 2010, he received the Swedish Academy's Nordic Prize, known as the 'little Nobel'.

At the 27th Guldbagge Awards Enquist was nominated for the award for Best Screenplay for the film Il Capitano: A Swedish Requiem.[2]



  1. ^ "Österrikiskt kulturpris till P.O. Enquist". Nyheter (in Swedish). 26 July 2010. Retrieved 25 July 2011. 

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