[2] On 16 October 1997, Engdahl became a member of the Swedish Academy, elected to seat number 17 vacated by the death of Johannes Edfelt; on 1 June 1999, he succeeded Sture Allén as the Academy's permanent secretary, i.e. its executive member and spokesperson.

On 20 December 2008 it was announced that after ten years Engdahl would step down as the Academy's permanent secretary on 1 June 2009.

In October 2008, Engdahl told the Associated Press that the United States is "too isolated, too insular" to challenge Europe as "the center of the literary world"[4] and that "they don't translate enough and don't really participate in the big dialogue of literature ...That ignorance is restraining."

[5] His comments generated controversy across the Atlantic, with Harold Augenbraum, head of the U.S. National Book Foundation offering to send him a reading list.

[4] In April 2018, the New York Times reported that Engdahl had railed against former Academy members who left following allegations of sexual abuse by Jean-Claude Arnault.