Kjell Espmark was professor of comparative literature at Stockholm University from 1978 to 1995 and has been a member of the Swedish Academy since 1981, serving as chairman of the Nobel Committee from 1988 to 2004. He has published twenty volumes of poetry, ten novels, and over a dozen volumes of literary criticism. His many awards include the Bellman Prize, the Tranströmer Prize, the Premio Capri and the Camaiore International Award. He is an officer of L’Ordre du Mérite. He has been translated into over twenty languages.