The 54-year-old, who lives in Malmö, had his breakthrough as an author in 2019 with his debut book "Ålevangeliet". The book received great international interest, and he also received the August Prize in non-fiction for it.
"I am very happy to be here, because where I come from I don't think there is anything nicer than being awarded the Pirate Prize," he said.
Surrealistic
Svensson said in his acceptance speech that he felt a bit like the landowner Jon Esping, the main character in the novel "Bock in the Herb Garden" by Fritiof Nilsson the Pirate.
"He becomes a churchwarden, even though he has never set foot in a church. Sometimes, when things feel a bit surreal and you wonder how you actually ended up here, I think of Patron Esping."
This year's award is the 38th in the series. The award ceremony will take place on July 13 in Kivik.
"I've just been to Colombia and Argentina at various book fairs, done a lot of interviews and talked about both "The Eel Gospel" and "The Loach Man" - which are published in Spanish. So you could say it's been a week full of contrasts."
Celebrate with beer
The prize will be celebrated with a non-alcoholic beer before the trip home. The prize money is 150,000 kronor.
"I think that the money first and foremost gives me time and encouragement to write more books."
The motivation reads: "This year's laureate is a literary explorer whose adventures take him from the darkest depths of the sea to the most secret places of man. Through his books, the reader understands how little we really know, about mysterious sea creatures and about our own innermost being. Like the Pirate, he looks at the world with a mixture of the compassion of an adult and the curious gaze of a child."
Facts: The Pirate Prize
The Pirate Prize will be awarded on July 13 at the Pirate Statue in Kivik.
The prize has been awarded since 1989 to cultural figures who have worked in the spirit of Fritiof Nilsson the Pirate.
The first prize went to Jacques Werup.
According to the statutes, the prize "shall be awarded to a person who is active in Sweden and who has in a distinctive way made life more bearable for the rest of humanity through their artistic practice."
