Portrait of Per Olov Enquist

Birthday profile

Per Olov Enquist

Per Olov Enquist, Swedish journalist, author, and playwright (died 2020)

Born
September 23, 1934
Died
April 25, 2020
Zodiac sign
Libra
Birth year
1934

About Per Olov Enquist

Per Olov Enquist (23 September 1934 – 25 April 2020), also known as P. O. Enquist, was a Swedish author. He worked as a journalist, playwright and novelist. == Biography == Enquist was born and raised in Hjoggböle, a village in present-day Skellefteå Municipality, Västerbotten. He was the only son of a single mother, who became a widow when he was half a year old. In his youth, he was a promising athlete with a high jump personal best of 1.97 meters. He studied at Uppsala University, receiving a degree in the history of literature. During his time in Uppsala he started writing, his first novel Kristallögat being published in 1961, and became a newspaper journalist. Enquist won the Nordic Council's Literature Prize in 1968 for The Legionnaires, his account of Sweden's deportation of Baltic-country soldiers at the end of the second world war, a novel which also became his international breakthrough. Enquist was to write several more novels based on true events. He lived in Denmark from 1978 to 1993 where he was married to Danish journalist Lone Bastholm.

Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.

Career and life highlights

Per Olov Enquist timeline

  1. During his time in Uppsala he started writing, his first novel Kristallögat being published in 1961, and became a newspaper journalist.
  2. Enquist won the Nordic Council's Literature Prize in 1968 for The Legionnaires, his account of Sweden's deportation of Baltic-country soldiers at the end of the second world war, a novel which also became his international breakthrough.
  3. Enquist's first stage play was Tribadernas natt (1975), a story about Swedish author August Strindberg, his soon-to-be ex-wife Siri von Essen, and von Essen's presumed lover Marie David.
  4. The Visit of the Royal Physician also became the first of two books by Enquist to be awarded the August Prize, the other being his 2008 autobiography Ett annat liv.

The world when Per Olov Enquist was born

Per Olov Enquist was born in 1934. The year snapshot below places that birthday in its cultural and historical setting: the music and films people were following, the headlines shaping public life, and the everyday prices families encountered.

Culture in 1934

  • #1 song"Stars Fell on Alabama"
  • Top movieIt Happened One Night
  • Best-selling bookTender Is the Night – F. Scott Fitzgerald

Headlines and milestones

  • Major sports momentFirst Masters Tournament held at Augusta National
  • Top headlineFBI kills John Dillinger outside a Chicago theater
  • Technology milestoneFirst streamlined passenger train (Burlington Zephyr)
  • Defining fadShirley Temple mania
  • Notable inventionLaundromat
  • World population2.20 billion

United States snapshot

  • U.S. leaderFranklin D. Roosevelt
  • Sports championSt. Louis Cardinals (World Series)
  • U.S. population126.4M

1934 versus 2026

These figures put everyday life in Per Olov Enquist's birth year beside the site's latest United States snapshot.

Measure19342026
Gas$0.19$3.45/gal
Average home$4,900$435,000
Average income$2,500$67,500
Minimum wage$0.25$7.25/hr (federal)
Movie ticket$0.20$11.95
Postage stamp$0.03$0.73
Population126.4M341 million

Sources and editorial standards

This profile combines a biographical source with structured birthday and historical context. Sources recorded for this profile: Wikipedia, Encyclopaedia Britannica, Library of Congress, Wikidata. See our editorial policy for sourcing, corrections, and review standards.

Read the source biography on Wikipedia. Wikipedia text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.