Career
He spent his whole life in Stockholm, and the most famous of the more than 40 books he wrote in total is a series of five novels set in the Swedish capital that he dearly loved, describing the lives of successive generations of Stockholmers between 1860 and 1968:
Mina Drömmars stad (City of My Dreams), published in 1960, covers the period from 1860-1880. Barn av sin stad (Children of Their City), published in 1962, covers 1880-1900. Minns du den stad (Remember the City), published in 1964, covers 1900-1925.
I en förvandlad stad (In a Transformed City), published in 1966, covers 1925-1945.
Stad i världen (City in the World), published in 1968, covers 1945-1968. The first four novels have been published in an English translation by Jennifer Brown Baverstam.
A film adaptation of City of My Dreams (Swedish: Mina drömmars stad) was released in 1976, directed by Ingvar Skogsberg, with narration from Fogelström. The 1950 film While the City Sleeps (Swedish: Medan staden sover) was adapted by Ingmar Bergman and director Lars-Eric Kjellgren from Fogelström"s novel, and Bergman"s taboo-breaking 1953 film Summer with Monika (Swedish: Sommaren medical Monika) is based on Fogelström"s 1951 novel of the same name.
An active pacifist, Fogelström served as director of the Swedish Peace and Arbitration Society (Swedish: Svenska fredsoch skiljedomsföreningen) from 1963 to 1977.
He received a honorary doctorate from Stockholm University in 1976, and was awarded the Swedish royal medal Litteris et Artibus in 1996. After his death, a bust of Fogelström was unveiled in Stockholm City Hall.