Mats Ulrik Malm | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | 10 May 1964 |
| Nationality | Swedish |
| Occupation(s) | translator, literary historian, editor |
| Spouse | Gunilla Hermansson |
| Member of the Swedish Academy (Seat No. 11) | |
| Assumed office 20 December 2018 | |
| Preceded by | Klas Östergren |
| Permanent Secretary of the Swedish Academy | |
| Assumed office June 2019 | |
| Preceded by | Anders Olsson |
Mats Ulrik Malm (born 10 May 1964) is a Swedish literary writer and translator. On 18 October 2018, Malm was elected a member of the Swedish Academy, on 26 April 2019 he was elected the new Permanent Secretary and Speaker of the Swedish Academy.[1]
Mats Malm is a university professor of literary science at the University of Gothenburg. He has a PhD in Gothicism. As a translator, he has published Icelandic Sagas. He is working on digitizing Swedish literature as director of the Swedish Literature Bank. Since 2012, Malm has been a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Letters, History and Antiquities. On 18 October 2018, Malm was elected member of the Swedish Academy, where he succeeded Klas Östergren in Chair No. 11.[2]
A man impersonating Malm rang the novelist John Banville on the day that the Swedish Academy intended to announce the recipients of the 2019 and 2018 Nobel Prizes in Literature.[3] The man purporting to be Malm told Banville he had won and even read out the customary citation and asked if he would prefer to be designated the 2018 or 2019 laureate.[4][5] Banville was attending a physiotherapy appointment at the time and was lying face down on a couch when the call came.[5] He informed his daughter; she called her father back while watching the live announcement at midday to tell him his name had not been mentioned.[4] After the announcement, a voicemail to Banville (again from the man posing as Malm) claimed the Swedish Academy had withdrawn his prize due a disagreement.[3] Banville felt sorry for the man purporting to be Malm: "He certainly sounded upset, he was a very good actor".[4] But he later compared the voice of the speaker to that of the real Malm, at which point he realised that neither man sounded alike.[5][4] However, despite this, when Banville rang the number back he found himself in contact with the offices of the Swedish Academy.[3]
- ^ "The Swedish Academy appoints a new Permanent Secretary". 26 April 2019. Retrieved 27 April 2019.
- ^ Ny ledamot i Svenska Akademien, Swedish Academy, October 19, 2018.
- ^ a b c Hilliard, Mark (11 October 2019). "John Banville says he was phoned by Swedish Academy number shortly before announcement". The Irish Times. Retrieved 11 October 2019.
- ^ a b c d Hilliard, Mark (12 October 2019). "John Banville believes 'man with a grudge' behind Nobel prize hoax - Writer is sanguine about the incident, saying: 'for 40 minutes I was a Nobel Prize winner'". The Irish Times. Retrieved 12 October 2019.
- ^ a b c Walawalkar, Aaron (12 October 2019). "'Don't buy the champagne': Booker prize winner targeted by phone hoax". The Observer. Retrieved 12 October 2019.
The Irish writer had been lying face down on his couch, mid-physiotherapy session, when he received a call from a man purporting to be Mats Malm, the permanent secretary of the Swedish Academy, half an hour before the true winners would be revealed at a ceremony in Stockholm on Thursday. 'He asked me if I would prefer the 2018 or 2019 prize and read me the citation he would print about my work', Banville recalled.