Peter Mikael Englund is a Swedish author and historian born on April 4, 1957. He focuses on writing non-fiction books and essays, mostly about the Swedish Empire and other historical events. Englund is known for his accessible writing style, which includes narrative details that are often left out in traditional history books. His works have been translated into multiple languages, including German and Czech. From 2009 to 2015, Englund served as the permanent secretary of the Swedish Academy, before being succeeded by Sara Danius.[1] In January 2019, he and fellow academy member Kjell Espmark announced their return as active members of the Swedish academy,[2] where they had been inactive since April 2018.[3]
Englund was born in Boden and studied a preparatory course for the caring professions for two years and then humanistic subjects for another two years in secondary school. He was then conscripted and served 15 months in the Swedish Army at the Norrbotten Regiment located in Boden. He was politically active in his youth and supported the National Front for the Liberation of Vietnam.
Englund studied archaeology, history, and theoretical philosophy at Uppsala University, completing a bachelor's degree in 1983, after which he began doctoral studies in History. He was awarded his Ph.D. in 1989 for his dissertation Det hotade huset (English title in the dissertation abstract: A House in Peril) (1989), an investigation of the worldview of the 17th-century Swedish nobility. During his period as a doctoral student, he had also worked for some time for the Swedish Military Intelligence and Security Service ("MUST"), and the year before receiving his doctorate he had published the bestselling Poltava, a detailed description of the Battle of Poltava, where the troops of Swedish king Charles XII were defeated by the Russian army of Tsar Peter I in 1709.
Englund has received the August Prize (1993) and the Selma Lagerlöf Prize for Literature (2002). He was elected a member of the Swedish Academy in 2002. On 1 June 2009, he succeeded Horace Engdahl as the permanent secretary of the Academy.
In 2009, Englund "criticized the jury panel as being too 'Eurocentric'" and "told the Associated Press that it was easier for Europeans to relate to European literature". "It’s the result of psychological bias that we really try to be aware of," Englund was quoted as saying.[4] In December 2014, he announced his retirement from the post of secretary of the Swedish Academy.[5] On 1 June 2015, Sara Danius succeeded Peter Englund as permanent secretary.[6]
On 6 April 2018, Englund announced that he would no longer participate in the Academy's work. On the same day, Klas Östergren and Kjell Espmark also declared that they would become inactive members of the Academy.[3]
On 10 January 2019, Englund announced on his blog that he and fellow Academy member Kjell Espmark would be returning as active members of the Academy. He stated that continued work to renew the Academy has now reached a point that it must be done from within.[7]