Gunhild Bricken Kristina Lugn (born 14 November 1948) is a Swedish

Sweden

Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

 poet and dramatist and member of the Swedish Academy

Swedish Academy

The Swedish Academy , founded in 1786 by King Gustav III, is one of the Royal Academies of Sweden.-History:The Swedish Academy was founded in 1786 by King Gustav III. Modelled after the Académie française, it has 18 members. The motto of the Academy is "Talent and Taste"...

. She was born in Tierp

Tierp

Tierp is a locality and the seat of Tierp Municipality, Uppsala County, Sweden with 5,377 inhabitants in 2005. There is a saying that in Tierp the birds fly upside down.-Communications:...

, Uppland

Uppland

Uppland is a historical province or landskap on the eastern coast of Sweden, just north of Stockholm, the capital. It borders Södermanland, Västmanland and Gästrikland. It is also bounded by lake Mälaren and the Baltic sea...

 and was raised in Skövde

Skövde

Skövde is a locality and the seat of Skövde Municipality, Västra Götaland County, Sweden with 34 446 inhabitants .Skövde is situated some 150 km northeast of Gothenburg, between Sweden's two largest lakes, Vänern and Vättern. It sits on the eastern slope of a low mountain ridge Billingen ,...

, Västergötland

Västergötland

', English exonym: West Gothland, is one of the 25 traditional non-administrative provinces of Sweden , situated in the southwest of Sweden. In older English literature one may also encounter the Latinized version Westrogothia....

, and after finishing her academic education she has devoted her time to poet

Poet

A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...

ry, as literary critic

Critic

A critic is anyone who expresses a value judgement. Informally, criticism is a common aspect of all human expression and need not necessarily imply skilled or accurate expressions of judgement. Critical judgements, good or bad, may be positive , negative , or balanced...

 and a playwright

Playwright

A playwright, also called a dramatist, is a person who writes plays.The term is not a variant spelling of "playwrite", but something quite distinct: the word wright is an archaic English term for a craftsman or builder...

. 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 (the Swedish Royal Dramatic Theatre), Stockholms stadsteater (Stockholm City Theatre

Stockholm City Theatre

Stockholm City Theatre is Sweden's most popular theatre stage. It was created in 1956 but the first performance was delayed until 1960. It had not yet been decided at that point where in the city the theatre would lie so the Folkets hus building at Norra Bantorget, with a temporary stage, became...

) 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

Teater Brunnsgatan Fyra

Teater Brunnsgatan Fyra, located at Brunnsgatan 4 in Stockholm, is one of the most popular theatres in Stockholm for contemporary Swedish dramatic work....

 in Stockholm

Stockholm

Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...

 (at the address of Brunnsgatan 4), established by the popular Swedish actor Allan Edwall

Allan Edwall

Johan Allan Edwall was a Swedish actor, director, author, composer and singer, best-known outside Sweden for the small roles he played in some of Ingmar Bergman's films such as Fanny and Alexander...

.

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

Lars Gyllensten

Lars Johan Wictor Gyllensten was a Swedish author and physician, and a member of the Swedish Academy, which has the aim of furthering the "purity, vigour and majesty" of the Swedish language and selects the recipient of the Nobel Prize for Literature each year.Gyllensten was born and grew up in a...

 in chair 14.

Partial bibliography

• Om jag inte (If I Not) 1972
• Till min man, om han kunde läsa (To My Husband, If He Could Read) 1976
• Döda honom! (Kill Him!) 1978
• Om ni hör ett skott (If You Hear A Gun Shot) 1979
• Percy Wennerfors 1982
• Bekantskap önskas med äldre bildad herre (Looking For Acquaintance With Educated Older Gentleman) 1983
• Lugn bara Lugn (Calm/Lugn Just Calm/Lugn) 1984
• Hundstunden (The Dog Hour) 1989
• Samlat lugn (Collected Calm/Lugn) 1997
• Nattorienterarna (The Night Orienteers) 1999
• Hej då, ha det så bra (Good Bye, Have A Great Time) 2003

Various plays

• När det utbröt panik i det kollektiva omedvetna (When Panic Broke Out in the Collective Subconsciousness) 1986
• Titta det blöder (Look It's Bleeding) 1987
• Det vackra blir liksom över (The Beautiful Things Is Kind Of Left Out; American title, "The Hour of the Dog"; performed in New York and Edinburgh) 1989
• Tant Blomma (Aunt Flower; American title, "Aunt Blossom"; performed in New York) 1993
• Idlaflickorna (The Idla Girls) (American title, "The Old Girls at Lake Garda"; performed in New York) 1993
• Silver Star (performed in New York) 1995
• De tröstlösa(The Inconsolable) 1997 (written with Allan Edwall
  Allan Edwall
  Johan Allan Edwall was a Swedish actor, director, author, composer and singer, best-known outside Sweden for the small roles he played in some of Ingmar Bergman's films such as Fanny and Alexander...
  
  )
• Titta en älg (Look A Moose) 1999
• Stulna juveler (Stolen Jewels; performed in New York) 2000
• Eskil Johnassons flyttfirma (Eskil Johnasson's Mover Business) 2000
• Begåvningsreserven (The Talent Reserve) 2002
• Kvinnorna vid Svansjön (The Women by The Swan Lake) 2003
• Två solstrålar på nya äventyr (Two Sunbeams On New Adventures) 2003
• Var är Holger, Harald och Herrman? (Where Are Holger, Harald and Herrman?) 2004
• Vera 2005
• Det finns ett liv därborta i Vällingby (There Is A Life Over There at Vällingby) 2005
• Gråt inte mer, Cecilia. Och inte du heller, Ursula (Don't Cry Anymore, Cecilia. And Not You Either, Ursula) 2005
• Katarina den stora (Catherine The Great) 2006

External links

• Teater Brunnsgatan Fyra