[3] Enquist won the Nordic Council's Literature Prize in 1968 for Legionärerna, his account of Sweden's deportation of Baltic-country soldiers at the end of the second world war which also became his international breakthrough.

[6][7][8] 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 [sv].

[13] Besides books and stage plays, Enquist also wrote screenplays for motion pictures, including Pelle Erövraren (1987) and Hamsun (1996),[14] and at the 27th Guldbagge Awards in 1993, Enquist was nominated for the award for Best Screenplay for the film Il Capitano: A Swedish Requiem.

[15] He also received the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize as well as the Nelly Sachs Prize in 2003 for Livläkarens besök, based on the true story of Johann Friedrich Struensee, who was the mentally ill Danish King Christian VII's physician, and his political machinations and relationship with Christian's wife Caroline Matilda in the 1770s.

[16][17] Livläkarens besök also became the first of two books Enquist wrote that were awarded the August Prize, the other being his 2008 autobiography Ett annat liv.