Bengt Pohjanen was born in 1944 in Kassa, on the Torne river, on the outermost edge of Sweden close to the Finnish border. He studied at Uppsala and Stockholm University. Theol. kand. and PhD, senior lecturer at Stockholm University 1981-83.
For his writing in three languages and his strive for the recognition of Meänkieli, the North-Swedish dialect of Finnish, Bengt Pohjanen has received an honorary doctorate from the University of Oulu, Finland, received the Ivar Lo Prize and the Dan Andersson Society's Literature Prize.
Bengt Pohjanen has for many years lived in Överkalix in Norrbotten. He is now living in Luleå.