Swedish Academy
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Swedish_Academy_logo.png
Logo of the Swedish Academy
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 12th edition while the first volume of the SAOB was published in 1898 and today (2004) 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.
Current members
Current members of the Swedish Academy, ordered by seat number, are:
- Sten Rudholm, elected 1977
- Bo Ralph, elected 1999
- Sture Allén, elected 1980, permanent secretary 1986-1999
- Lars Forssell, elected 1971
- Göran Malmqvist, elected 1985
- Birgitta Trotzig, elected 1993
- Knut Ahnlund, elected 1983
- Östen Sjöstrand, elected 1975
- Torgny Lindgren, elected 1991
- Peter Englund, elected 2002
- Ulf Linde, elected 1977
- Per Wästberg, elected 1997
- Gunnel Vallquist, elected 1982
- Lars Gyllensten, elected 1966, permanent secretary 1977-1986
- Kerstin Ekman, elected 1978
- Kjell Espmark, elected 1981
- Horace Engdahl, elected 1997, permanent secretary since 1999
- Katarina Frostenson, elected 1992
See also
External links
- SAOL on the web (http://www.saol.nu) - Subscription only
- SAOB on the web (http://g3.spraakdata.gu.se/saob) - Free
- Swedish Academy (http://www.svenskaakademien.se/) - Official site