Kjell Espmark succeeded the linguist Elias Wessén to Seat No.16.
[2] On 6 April 2018 Espmark announced that he would no longer participate in the work of the Academy,[3] but returned to his seat in January 2019.
[4] As a literature historian Espmark specialised in poetic modernism, including studies about the work of Swedish poets Artur Lundkvist, Harry Martinson, Tomas Tranströmer, and Att översätta själen: en huvudlinje i modern poesi – från Baudelaire till surrealismen ("To translate the soul: a main line in modern poetry from Baudelaire to surrealism", 1975).
Also a prolific fiction writer, Espmark published a number of poetry collections since his debut in 1956, and later extended his writing to several prose works and plays.
His work also include essay collections and studies about the Nobel Prize in Literature.