On 18 October 2018, Malm was elected member of the Swedish Academy, where he succeeded Klas Östergren in Chair No.

[2] A man impersonating Malm rang the novelist John Banville on the day that the Swedish Academy intended to announce the recipients of the 2019 and 2018 Nobel Prizes in Literature.

[3] The man purporting to be Malm told Banville he had won and even read out the customary citation and asked if he would prefer to be designated the 2018 or 2019 laureate.

[5] He informed his daughter; she called her father back while watching the live announcement at midday to tell him his name had not been mentioned.

[4] After the announcement, a voicemail to Banville (again from the man posing as Malm) claimed the Swedish Academy had withdrawn his prize due a disagreement.