Lars Forssell
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Lars Hans Carl Abraham Forssell (born January 14, 1928 in Stockholm, Sweden) is an author and a member of the Swedish Academy. Forssell has been married since 1951 to Kerstin Hane, and is the father of Jonas Forssell.
Forssell is a versatile writer who has worked within many genres, including poetry, drama and songwriting.
He attended Kungsholms Folkskola, which at the beginning of the twentieth century was the world's largest elementary school - the school had a capacity of 3,800 pupils, but since not all of them attended school every day, the were taught in shifts and according to the City Museum of Stockholm, the total number of enrolled pupils was over 6,000.
He studied in the United States during the 1940s, returned to Sweden to study for a degree at the University of Uppsala in 1952 and became a cultural reporter for various Swedish newspapers and journals (Utsikt, Bonniers Litterära Magasin, Poesi, Dagens Nyheter and Expressen). At the same time, he became established as a lyricist for cabaret shows and his own reviews (including Två åsnor (A Pair of Donkeys) which was staged in Gothenburg in 1957). His collections of poetry won him membership of the Swedish Academy in 1971, while his song lyrics brought him widespread public recognition. During the 1970s he worked tirelessly as a poet and as a song-contest lyricist, including writing for the 1973 Swedish Eurovision Song Contest entry selection round (Melodifestivalen) and for performer Lill-Babs in 1980.
He was awarded the Bellman Prize in both 1968 and 1981, the Pilot Prize in 1992, the Litteris et Artibus award in 1993, the Cornelis Vreeswijk scholarship in 1997 and the Swedish Academy's Nordic Prize in 1998.
His works include anthologies of poetry, books of song lyrics, children's books, plays, operatic librettos and translations.
| Preceded by: Sigfrid Siwertz |
Swedish Academy, Seat No.4 1971- |
Succeeded by: incumbent |
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Members of the Swedish Academy | |
|---|---|---|
| 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 | ||
