Ola Wikander –
scholar, exegete, linguist, non-fiction author and novelist

This is the international website of Ola Wikander, Sweden-based scholar of the Hebrew Bible, Ugarit, historical linguistics and Ancient Near Eastern languages, and author of numerous non-fiction books and fantastic fiction novels. I have a doctorate and Readership in Old Testament Exegesis from Lund University, where I am an also a Senior Lecturer (mostly teaching Hebrew, but sometimes also Akkadian and Ugaritic); I am a former Pro Futura Scientia Fellow at the Swedish Collegium for Advanced Study (SCAS) in Uppsala and at the Centre for Theology and Religious Studies, Lund. During the autumn of 2021 and spring of 2022, I was a visiting scholar at the Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities (CRASSH) and at Wolfson College, Cambridge.

I have worked with and have knowledge of a large number of ancient languages, including Hebrew, Ugaritic (my speciality), Sanskrit, Hittite, Luwian, Latin, Greek, Akkadian, Coptic, and numerous others, with a background in the study of both Semitic and Indo-European linguistics. Spreading knowledge about these languages and the cultures they encoded has been a large part of my career.

Among my publications are two international monographs, eight non-fiction volumes and four novels – as well as many articles in scholarly journals as well as a large number of articles in popular journals and magazines. Most of the latter are in Swedish, whereas most of my purely scholarly production is in English.

Welcome to this website, which I hope you will find interesting and illuminating!

I have a presence on Twitter, not seldom posting ancient words and things: @olawikander . There is also an Instagram account with the same handle.

Credit for my photo on this page goes to Rebecca Bugge.

If you want to contact me, send me an email (linked HERE)!


For my Swedish-language website, see HERE!