Henning Mankell

Henning Mankell was born in 1948 in Stockholm and grew up in the small towns of Sveg (Härjedalen) and Borås (Västergötland) in western Sweden. His father was a judge, and his grandfather, Henning Mankell (1868-1930), was a composer. By the age of 20, he had already begun his writing career, while also engaging in theater as an assistant director at the Riksteater in Stockholm, and participating in Vietnam War activism from the ranks of the Left. His first published book was the story of a miner, through which he presented the history of the labor movement. He soon became one of Sweden's most beloved authors. His series of crime novels featuring Inspector Kurt Wallander, which debuted in 1991 with "Faceless Killers," was translated into many languages, sold over twenty million copies worldwide, and was adapted for television both in Sweden and the UK by the BBC (starring Kenneth Branagh). The novel "Faceless Killers" (Psichogios, 2002) was declared the best Swedish crime novel in 1991 by the Swedish Crime Writers' Academy and the best Scandinavian crime novel (Glass Key Award). The novel "Sidetracked" (Psichogios, 2004) was honored with the Crime Writers' Association Golden Dagger Award in the UK in 2001. The author was named Author of the Year in Germany in 2002 and received the Tolerance Award from the Deutsche Evangelische Akademie Tutzing and the Corine Award. He also wrote novels for children and young adults, as well as more than forty plays. After living for several years in African countries such as Zambia, in recent years he divided his time between Sweden and Maputo, the capital of Mozambique, where he worked as the artistic director of Teatro Avenida. He also founded his own publishing house, Leopard Förlag, to support talents from Africa and Sweden. Maintaining an active political conscience, Henning Mankell was a passenger in May 2010 on the ship Sofia, which participated in the international naval mission to lift the Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip. Following the intervention of the Israeli military on the flotilla, Mankell was arrested and deported to Sweden. From there, he called on the international community to impose sanctions on Israel. He passed away on October 4, 2015, at the age of 67, after a long illness.