Kristina Lugn

Who is Kristina Lugn?

Gunhild Bricken Kristina Lugn is a Swedish poet and dramatist and member of the Swedish Academy. She was born in Tierp, Uppland and was raised in Skövde, Västergötland, and after finishing her academic education she has devoted her time to poetry, as literary critic and a playwright. Since 1972 she has published seven books of poetry. Since the 1990s Lugn also belongs to the most beloved and appreciated playwrights of today's Sweden. Her plays have been staged at the Dramaten, Stockholms stadsteater and at Teater Brunnsgatan Fyra, a.o. Much appreciated by the Swedish audience, she touches subjects of loneliness, death and middle-age crises with irony, cynicism and black humour. She has been awarded several awards.

Since 1997 she runs the small independent theatre Teater Brunnsgatan Fyra in Stockholm, established by the popular Swedish actor Allan Edwall.

Her surname "Lugn" also means "calm" in Swedish; a double meaning she jokes with and uses.

On 20 December 2006, Lugn was elected into the Swedish Academy to replace Lars Gyllensten in chair 14.