Per Wästberg was born in Stockholm in 1933. He received his Bachelor of Arts (comparative literature) from Harvard University in 1955 and PhD from Uppsala University in 1962 on a thesis of the African novel, 1945-60. He has been a critic and columnist at Dagens Nyheter, Sweden's main daily, since 1953. 1976-82, he was Chief Editor of the same paper.

He is Vice President of International PEN, and was President of Swedish PEN, 1967-78. He founded the Swedish Amnesty in 1963. He is a member of the European Academy of Arts & Sciences since 1980 and became member of The Swedish Academy, chair no 12, in 1997. He is a member of the Nobel Committee for Literature since 1998.

Per Wästberg has published fifty books, novels, poetry and non-fiction. He made his debut as a 15-year old with a collection of short stories, Boy with Soap Bubbles (Pojke med såpbubblor) 1949. His breakthrough came in 1955 with the novel Half of the Kingdom (Halva kungariket).

His encounter with oppression and racism in Africa and the Third World is documented in Forbidden Territory (Förbjudet område), 1960, followed by On the Black List (På svarta listan), reportage, journal and political analysis on Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) and South Africa. The books were printed in altogether one million copies in nine languages. It led to the author being prohibited from entering Rhodesia until its independence in 1980 and from South Africa until Nelson Mandela's release in 1990.