Famous Swedish Playwrights

August Strindberg was a Swedish playwright, painter, essayist, novelist, and poet. He wrote over 30 works of fiction and more than 60 plays in an illustrious career that spanned 40 years. Widely regarded as the father of modern Swedish literature, Strindberg is best remembered for his work The Red Room, which is considered the first modern Swedish novel.

Henning Mankell was a Swedish dramatist, children's author, and crime writer. He is best reemembered for penning a series of mystery novels which featured the popular character, Inspector Kurt Wallander. Henning Mankell is also remembered for highlighting injustices in Sweden and social inequality issues through his plays and books. He was a recipient of many awards like the Gumshoe Award.

Nelly Leonie Sachs, internationally noted German-Swedish poet and dramatist, wrote conventional romantic poems until the rise of Nazism brought about a drastic change in her life. Forced to flee to Sweden, she began writing about the grief and yearnings of her fellow Jews, concurrently translating German works into Swedish and vice-versa. She won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1966.

German-born novelist and playwright Peter Weiss was forced to move to England, Switzerland, and Czechoslovakia, to avoid Nazi persecution, and eventually moved to Sweden and took up Swedish citizenship. Initially a painter and photographer, he later turned to filmmaking. His best-known works include the play The Investigation and the novel The Aesthetics of Resistance.

Nobel Prize-winning Swedish author Pär Lagerkvist is remembered for his bestselling novels The Dwarf and Barabbas. He mostly used religious figures to examine the question of good and evil. One of his prose novellas, The Hangman, was later adapted for the stage. He also chaired the Swedish Academy.

Swedish author and journalist Per-Olov Enquist was raised by a single mother and excelled in high jump in his early years. Known for his documentary approach in his writings, he penned award-winning novels, such as Legionärerna. The Nordic Prize winner died at age 85, after a long battle with cancer.

Vilhelm Moberg was a Swedish author and historian who is internationally known for his works on Swedish emigration to the USA in the 19th century. Moberg took it upon himself to give voice to the poor and illiterate, writing several books on the subject including The Earth is Ours trilogy and the Emigrant series. Largely self-educated, he also wrote several non-frictions including two volumes on Swedish history.

Lisa Langseth is a Swedish film director and screenwriter. She is best known for directing films like Pure, Hotell, and Euphoria. After beginning her career as a theatre director and playwright, Langseth went on to establish herself as an acclaimed film director. Many of her films have achieved critical acclaim and have been premiered in film festivals around the world. 

Swedish author, playwright, and journalist Hjalmar Söderberg had begun his career as a civil servant, before switching to full-time writing. Known for his novels such as Doctor Glas and Martin Birck’s Youth, he also penned short story collections such as Historietter. His themes are often melancholic and cynical.

Lars Noren was a Swedish novelist, playwright, and poet. A prominent playwright, Noren is best remembered for staging realistic plays that often revolve around personal relations and family. In 1971, he was honored with the Aftonbladet's literary prize. In 2003, Lars Noren was awarded the Swedish Academy Nordic Prize.

Dawit Isaak is a Swedish-Eritrean writer, journalist, and playwright. Since 2001, he has been jailed by the Eritrean government without trial and is regarded as a traitor by the government of Eritrea. Dawit Isaak is considered a prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International, which has called for his release. Over the years, his works have earned him several prestigious awards.

Jonas Hassen Khemiri is a Swedish writer who has authored novels, plays, short stories, and essays. Khemiri's work has been translated into over 25 languages and he has received several prestigious awards, such as the August Prize. In 2017, his short story was published in the New Yorker, making him the first Swedish writer to have achieved this feat.

Alexandra Coelho Ahndoril is a Swedish writer best known for her debut novel Stjärneborg, which received the prestigious Katapult Prize in 2004. In addition to her work as a writer, Alexandra Coelho Ahndoril has also been a literary critic for Dagens Nyheter and Göteborgs-Posten, two of Sweden's largest newspapers.

One of the most prominent Swedish romantic poets, Erik Johan Stagnelius worked as a civil servant in Stockholm. He is best known for his dramas The Martyrs and The Bacchantes. Not much is known about his life, except that he died of a chronic and mysterious condition at age 29.

Hjalmar Bergman was a Swedish playwright and writer. He is best remembered for his fictional works; he even created a fictional town named Wadköping, which was modelled after his hometown Örebro. Hjalmar Bergman tried his hand as a manuscript writer in Hollywood before falling prey to narcotics abuse and alcoholism, from which he died at the age of 47.

Michael Meschke is a Swedish puppeteer, playwright, film director, and theater and museum director. A pioneer in the art of puppet theater, Meschke is credited with founding the Marionette Museum and the Marionette Theater. Michael Meschke is also an educator; apart from working as a professor, he has also founded a school in Finland.