| Per Wästberg | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Birth Date: | 20 November 1933 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Birth Place: | Stockholm, Sweden | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Education: | Uppsala University Östra Real | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Employer: | Dagens Nyheter | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Occupation: | writer, journalist, poet | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Partner: | Margareta Ekström | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Parents: | Erik Wästberg (father) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Relatives: | Olle Wästberg (brother) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Nationality: | Swedish | ||||||||||||||||||||
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Per Erik Wästberg (born 20 November 1933) is a Swedish writer and a member of the Swedish Academy since 1997.
Wästberg was born in Stockholm, son of Erik Wästberg and his wife Greta née Hirsch, and holds a degree in literature from Uppsala University. He was editor-in-chief of Sweden's largest daily newspaper, Dagens Nyheter 1976–1982, and has been a contributor since 1953. He is an older brother of Olle Wästberg.[1]
Wästberg was a member of Amnesty International for many years and was a president of International PEN.
He has been a member of the Nobel Prize in Literature committee since 1999, chair between 2005 and 2019.[2]
Per Wästberg has published numerous books including travel literature with a particular interest in Africa, novels, poetry collections and biographical books. He is also a prominent chronicler of his native Stockholm.
Wästberg wrote a biographical novel about Anders Sparrman, a Swedish natural scientist, who, according to Wästberg, was the first zoologist to study the two African rhinoceros species. Wästberg describes Sparrman as having made significant scientific discoveries and cartography, without achieving fame.[3]
Wästberg has campaigned extensively for human rights. He was President of the PEN International from 1979 until 1986 and founder of the Swedish section of Amnesty International (1963). In connection with this, he was involved in the anti-colonial movement. He was especially active in the struggle against Apartheid in South Africa, where he became a close friend of Nadine Gordimer.
He was expelled by the government in Rhodesia in 1959, and after publication of his anti-Apartheid book På svarta listan (On the Black List) in 1960, he was banned from entering both Rhodesia and South Africa. He returned to South Africa only in 1990, after the release from jail of Nelson Mandela.
In August 2022 Wästberg resigned from Amnesty International following controversy about one of Amnesty's reports in relation to the 2022 Russian invasion, which in addition to blaming Russia for the invasion also stated that Ukrainian government had a responsibility not to place troops and weapons in civilian locations, to avoid putting them into harm in Amnesty's interpretation of international humanitarian law.[4] "I have been a member for over 60 years. It is with a heavy heart that, due to Amnesty's statements regarding the war in Ukraine, I am ending a long and fruitful engagement," he said.[5]